


Second Chances (Larry Stylinson)

by Rayne_Dreams



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Anxiety Attacks, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Falling In Love, First Love, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Heartbreak, Hurt/Comfort, Love/Hate, M/M, Past Abuse, Past Attempted Rape/Non-Con, Romance
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-04-22
Updated: 2018-04-24
Packaged: 2019-04-26 06:51:23
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 10
Words: 45,291
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14396613
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rayne_Dreams/pseuds/Rayne_Dreams
Summary: I - I know it d-doesn't matter anymore... But.... I - I still love you, Lou."" I don't want to see you again, Harry ."***A Love Story of two boys who fell for each other 10 years ago. But it was not that easy to complete that story, when one of the boy's heart was scarred with horrible memories.What will happen when the two will come face to face again after 10 years and all the memories from past will be refreshed.Some of those memories that are heartwarming, will try to get them back together but some of them that are heart wrenching, will keep them apart.But no matter what happens, they will again find a way to each other's heart, because they were meant to be together, whether 10 years ago or now.And their fate is giving them ...Second Chance...to explain the feelings.Second Chance...to heal the broken hearts.Second Chance...to fall in love.***(After 10 years, Harry becomes a Commercial Pilot, after he took the PVR from Royal Air Force and Louis is the Drummer of the world's biggest boy band.)





	1. A CHONCE

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A Love Story of two boys who fell for each other 10 years ago. But it was not that easy to complete that story, when one of the boy's heart was scarred with horrible memories.
> 
> What will happen when the two will come face to face again after 10 years and all the memories from past will be refreshed.
> 
> Some of those memories that are heartwarming, will try to get them back together but some of them that are heart wrenching, will keep them apart.
> 
> But no matter what happens, they will again find a way to each other's heart, because they were meant to be together, whether 10 years ago or now.
> 
> And their fate is giving them ...
> 
> Second Chance...  
> to explain the feelings.
> 
> Second Chance...  
> to heal the broken hearts.
> 
> Second Chance...  
> to fall in love.
> 
>  
> 
> ***
> 
>  
> 
> (After 10 years, Harry becomes a Commercial Pilot, after he took the PVR from Royal Air Force and Louis is the Drummer of the world's biggest boy band.)
> 
>  

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [ A/N : Dear Reader, this chapter explains, why One Direction went on Hiatus and how, Luke, Louis, Calum and Michael were recruited by One Direction. 
> 
> So if you want to, you can skip this chapter and start reading from the next one, where the story about Larry, starts. 
> 
> This chapter is divided into 4 sections. 
> 
> 1\. Beginning of the Intermission.  
> 2\. Turning Point.  
> 3\. This is "NOT" the end.  
> 4\. A CHONCE. 
> 
> It's almost 11k words long chapter. ]

****************************

 

"Beginning Of The Intermission" 

(March 2014, London) 

. 

"One Direction" it was not just a name or a group of four, 20 year old boys or just any famous boy band, it was the name of WORLD's Most Famous Boy Band EVER. It was more like a worldwide phenomenon and their strength was their amazing fans who proudly calls themselves "Directioners". 

Some parents of the Directioners would describe the band as a decease or a plague which was ruining their lives. But for Directioners it was the only thing that was holding them back from giving up and making them stronger even if they were feeling nothing but the pain and getting heart broken each and every day. 

Four Boys, " Liam Payne, Zayn Malik, Niall Horan and Ashton Irwin " helped a lot of people with their music . They were as crazy and dedicated to their fans as the Directioners were to them. One Direction and Directioners, it was not like a bond between a boy band and their fans, it was different. They were beyond than just a boy band and fans to each other because they were more than that, they were a FAMILY . 

Everything was going great but as cliche as it sounds, what a story without twist and turns. So after being together as a band for more than 3 years they were starting to fall apart. But no one outside in the world knows about that. 

\------------------------------

Zayn was in the one direction mansion where all, 4 members of the band and 4 members of their back band (Sandy Beales, Jon Shone , Dan Richards and Josh Devine) were living together while they were working. 

He was upstairs in the attic of the house, hiding from the others. He was a shy kinda guy, not always but whenever it comes to his feelings, yes he was. You could say he was an introvert but being in a world famous band does not helps the situation at all. Yet his friends and family were always there for him in his need, specially Liam. 

Liam and Zayn were dating each other secretly since 2011 until the management of the band found out about their relationship in mid 2013 and that was another problem for the couple. 

Management, the only reason why everything was falling apart in the band. All the 8 boys were doing there best to make them and the Fandom happy but for the management, it was never enough. Management always makes the boys work more than they should. Boys would barely get a few hours to close their eyes to rest before either recording or an interview or a show or any other publicity strategy they has to attend. 

All the boys were getting impatient day by day but none of them were letting it affect on their work because it was not only a way for them to get a load in their bank accounts but it was their passion. 

Zayn and Liam was doing fine until one day management called Him and Liam to their office and told them to break up from their relationship, which left them baffled. 

Long story short, apparently some fans speculated that both the boys were in a relationship as the "Ziam Mayne" ship was real. And for the management, homosexuality was a big no no because it was a boy band and most of the population in the Fandom was female who would not like a gay idol. And because of that they could loose many fans which would affect their money and business too. 

So that's why management suggested them to break up but Liam and Zayn rejected the idea right away and told them that they will never gonna break their relationship for these kind of stupid reasons. After talking well more likely debating for a few good hours, management proposed the "Only Solution" to the problem was to have beards for a while to show the media and fans that they were not together but in another relationship with some girl. The boys were bound to accept that, either that or break up. But Liam argued that only one person is enough to end those speculation and that would be him because never in a million years he would let zayn go through something like that. 

So in August 2013 Liam started 'dating' his former classmate Sophia Smith who was one his close friend and knew about his relationship with Zayn. Sophia was a really nice girl and was really supportive and understanding towards Ziam and that's why she agreed to do it. Zayn was also relieved that the girl was not a threat to his relationship with Liam and both Zayn and Sophia were good friends too. 

But for management it was not enough and that is why today on the 25 March 2014 exactly one month before the "Where We Are Tour" begins, they called Zayn to the office again and told him to get a beard for himself as well but what tore him more was the girl they proposed him to be with, Perrie Edwards. 

Perrie was the closest girl-friend he ever had and they were really good with each other after Little Mix won the X factor. The pair became very good friend but that was it and none of them were into each other. Perrie was all bubbly and funky with his fashion while Zayn was the total opposite. But somehow they both became best friend. 

Zayn was devastated after the meeting. But he was sure that he would never ruin his friendship with Perrie, even if he has to leave the band. He already had his love life on a thread there and was not able to do that to his friends too. He would better leave all the success and fame but to loose his love and friends. 

He was having a mental breakdown and was on the verge of tears. So he did what he always does when he doesn't want to talk to anyone but to the only one person, his Mother, Trisha Malik. 

He dialled his mother's number and after 2 rings she picked up, 

"Hello sunshine !" 

" Hi mom ! " 

" Zayn, are you ok, is something wrong love ?" she asks him. 

" How do you do this mom, without even seeing or even letting me tell you, how can you feel that I'm actually not okay, How?" he asks her. 

" You are my son and if I won't understand you than who would, hmm. Now tell me, why my Bear is sad today and don't hide anything ? " 

And he explains her everything while stopping here and there to control over his emotions. Both Zayn and Liam's families knows about their relationship and supports them. That is why they never hides anything from them and Zayn specially from his mother. 

When Zayn finishes , both his and Trisha's eyes were ready to shed tears . Trisha loves her son so much that seeing him go through all of that makes her heart churn. She would do anything to see her son happy. So she says what any mother would to support their kids, 

" You do not have to go through all these things my love..... We don't want any of the money or fame which we gain by you suffering from pain like this. And if you don't want to go any more like this, we will never force you to . Talk to Liam and let him know what you're feeling. I'm sure he'll help you to make the decision. And love... 

Thank you for what you have done for us. I'm so proud of you. "

" Are you crying, Mom? "

" Well, how can I not if my only son is sad, Hmmm? " she says with a watery smile. 

" Well, get off the phone before I start crying." he says almost in tears.

" OK yeah, just... just let me know okay. And don't you ever forget that I'm always here for you, we all are. "

" I know Mom. That is why I love you All so much." 

" Bye love, take care of yourself and the others too."

"Bye Mom." and with that he disconnects the call. 

\-----------------------------

When Liam gets back from the grocery store he asks to the others if they saw Zayn and everyone shook their heads in no. Liam knew that Zayn went to meet the management that morning and that's why he was more concerned about Zayn's sudden absence. But when something clicks in his mind he started running upstairs making a bee line to the attic. Yes, Liam knows his boyfriend better than anyone else. 

When Liam steps in the attic, Zayn was watching outside the window and his back was facing him. So with feather like steps he gets closer to the boy and wraps his arms around him.

Zayn goes stiff in the hold and turns around while trying to wipe the wetness from his flushed cheeks. Liam's eyebrows frown in confusion and concern for his boyfriend so he asks him, 

"Z, what's wrong baby and why are you crying? What happened at the management?" 

As soon as Zayn hears his voice and looks into those chocolate brown puppy eyes he couldn't control it anymore and throws himself at Liam hugging him and wailing into the crook of his neck. He was crying so hard that his whole body was shaking like a leaf and that was all so hurtful for Liam to watch. 

Liam tried to ask him about it and coax Zayn's hand away from the hug to see his face but Zayn was gripping on to him even more tighter. Zayn had so much in his mind, he was thinking if he let go off Liam now then they would be separated by the management forever. His mind was slowly giving up on him but suddenly his body did first . When Liam felt that Zayn's grip on him was loosing slightly, he tried to look at his face, instead he felt zayn's body almost collapsing to the floor but he hold him close before it does. 

He looks at Zayn's flushed face and red puffy eyes with tears gathering in his own eyes. He sits down on the floor and places him on his lap. He very gently shakes his shoulder but he gets nothing, then he looks around to see a water bottle that was laying on the floor where Zayn stood before, and reaches out to grab it. He splashes some water on zayn's face to try to wake him up. After few moments Zayn opens up his Hazel ones but they instantly burst into tears again. He turns his face to stuff it into Liam's stomach. 

Liam very softly storks his fingers through the back of Zayn's head and asks, 

" Please Z, please tell me. I'm feeling really scared . Please love, Bear please tell me what happened that made you cry like this?please." he asks and a tear slips down his cheek. 

Zayn start shaking his head which was still stuffed in his stomach and says, "I can't do this anymore Liam, I seriously cannot. Not anymore." 

"What you can not do anymore sunshine , what happened? Please look at me for once and please tell me so I can help you." he says worried over his boyfriend's fragile state. 

Zayn turns his face in Liam's lap to look up straight into the chocolate brown eyes filled with worry and concern. The tears were still streaming down his eyes but somehow he controls himself and after taking a deep breath he tells everything about what happened today at management office regarding Perrie and him to Liam. 

Liam was furious after listening to his boyfriend with the sadness and fear laced in his voice. He wanted to rip those people's heads off who put Zayn in the situation. After accepting their conditions to date Sophia, he was sure that they will not disturb them and specially Zayn but after today he was not going to go easy on them. 

Without saying anything he wipes off zayn's tears from his face and after wiping his own face, he helps him up to his feet. When both of them were standing, Liam pulls him in and engulfs him in a tight hug and kisses him on the forehead a few times. After a few seconds he taps at Zayn's bum to jump up. Zayn complies his silent request and wraps his arms and legs around Liam's torso while hiding his face in his neck again. 

Zayn sighs in relief after inhaling the familiar sweet smell of his boyfriend. He wasn't worried about Liam's silence because he knows that if liam is quiet at these kind of moments, he is definitely thinking about the matter deeply. 

Liam makes sure to hold him closer and securely before making his way to their room in the house. When he was about to enter their room, Josh and Niall saw them and gave them questioning looks. Liam just shook his head a little bit with a little smile to ensure them that everything was OK. He wasn't going to tell anyone about it until he talks to the management. 

When he reached to there bed he lays, dozed off Zayn down on bed but got stumbled a bit while getting up cause zayn was still clinging on to him like a koala. So he really carefully without disturbing the sleeping beauty, got into the bed as well beside his boyfriend.

After crying and passing out once, zayn was totally worn out and just wanted to take a nap. When he felt the warmth of his lover beside him, he lets out a breath of relief with a barely audible 'I Love You' and with that he dozed off to sleep again. 

Liam replied to his 'I Love You' with an 'I Love You Too My Sunshine, so much' and hugs him more closer than they were before. Liam was well aware of Zayn's clinging habit whenever he was upset so he just made him feel as comfortable as he could. 

Liam was now sure that what he was thinking of from past couple of months, was the only way to make everything better but still it was a really big step for all of them and not only Ziam. But for his boyfriend's sake he would do anything and would fight anyone. After thinking about it all a bit more he felt his eyes drooping as well so he decided to take a nap too. But in his thoughts only one thing was going, ... 

this was the BEGINNING OF THE INTERMISSION. 

*************************

"Turning Point" 

(March 2014, Manchester) 

. 

" Come on guys, we have been going back and forth with this for a thousand times. I know it's a big step for 'No Limits' but it won't be a loss for your business. You know how many people like karaoke nights, don't you. Then why are you guys not doing it, it would only help you guys to get more popularity around here." Louis suggested more like whined the idea for the hundredth time that week. 

" You know Lou we only have a single type of crowd here and that is teenagers. And that..." before Calum could complete his sentence Michael piped in while jumping on the bar counter, 

"And that means lots of teenage hormones that could create massive destruction in our precious No Limits, If we arranged parties like open karaoke nights here." 

" And BTW who plans to have karaoke nights at a cafe, no one . So thanks again for the thousandth time for your suggestion." Luke said.  
"BUT NO THANKS." three of them said in sync giving the drama teacher a 'we are done discussing' look. But Louis was a stubborn guy who knew that the idea could boost up their business, so he didn't stop,

" Lads I know what kind of crowd we have here and that is why I'm suggesting the karaoke nights not poker nights... Duh... And about planning a karaoke night in a cafe then please tell me who tf says we can't have them in a cafe but sure in our rooms... Duh... Again. " he says with his sass but continues when his three Australian flatmates stares at him with their eyebrows lifted up in sync, 

"Guys, all I wanna say is that these are teenagers and they tend to enjoy these kind of things and don't say they don't. Because you have to agree how we were then... And remember when "UAN" came out, we all went gaga over it even though we were not so teenagers . Please guys.... 

You know what.. Just do it for only the April month and if we don't get more crowd or God forbid if anything bad happens to No Limits, I will shut my mouth for the whole eternity; I promise. But please... please please please please please..... Pretty.... Pleeeaaaaaaaasssseeee... Do it. " he says while dropping on the floor onto his knees and putting his hands together as in request.

The three Australian huffs at their best friend's stubbornness and looks at each other for some kind of telepathic conversation, while Louis was looking at their face moving from one to another like a adorable lost kitten. After a few moments they looked at him and smiled ; they gave up. 

Yayyyy

"All the fu¢king right, we'll do it but only for 1 month and not more than two nights a week ." Calum says. 

" But we need more nights. At least three..." he was again interpreted by Michael, " Either you'll have two or zero, the choice is yours." he says while folding his hands in front of him as in 'this conversation is done ; for good.' sense. 

Louis huffs and lays down on the floor where he was kneeling. After thinking for a few seconds he gets up on his elbows to look at the three still standing there lads and says with cheeky grin on his face, "Well, I still have two nights a week and that would be just enough." 

And "Oh Boy." was the only thing that came out of the three joint owner's of 'No Limits' 's mouths , again in sync. 

'They do that a lot.' 

They all knew how crazy can be Louis with his ideas. 

When they started karaoke nights, it seemed like a useless idea to continue for the starting 2 weeks because barely a few people came around to use the karaoke . But after a few promotion strategies, they did get pretty good responses from the idea. 

In the start only teenagers tend to join the nights but after a few days, the idea did took off as the more people from different age groups like to enjoy the environment in the Bakery / Cafe. 

So after 2 months of successful karaoke nights, Louis added another idea to put one more speciality in those nights. And the idea was to have a segment of 1 hour special show of "Forever Young". 

"FOREVER YOUNG" their so called band that they made when they were in final year of their graduation ; After their favorite band "One Direction". Luke and Michael use to play keyboard and guitars both , Calum bass guitar and Louis was the drummer in the band but also can play keyboard. 

They still sometimes play the instruments at their flat but not anymore for public. So after Louis' "suggestion" they all again went back at the same point as they were with the karaoke nights. And again after some bickering and arguing with the Doncaster lad, they all agreed.

And yet again Louis proved himself right when only in few weeks "Forever Young" became famous not only in the area but on the internet as well. They only covered One Direction songs, because it was their inspiration and the small band was a tribute to the world famous band. 

So the two nights of weekly Karaoke nights along with "Forever Young" they all were at their best. 

 

[ A/N : Luke, Calum, Michael and Louis' friendship history. 

Luke, Calum and Michael were basically from Australia but due to some of his family reasons Calum had to move to England after 12th and because Luke, Michael and Calum were like three peas in a pod, the other two also moved to England with his childhood friend. 

While graduating in the ManU they all met with Louis, who was their roommate and from then they all clicked on. After graduation the three Aussie Boys decided to open a coffee shop in union while Louis decided to become a drama teacher after getting a degree in the same field from Manchester University. 

So 3 years after graduation here they were. 3 Australian boys running a successful business of 'No Limits - Bakery / Cafe' and the Doncaster lad being a Drama teacher at the Manchester University .'

I hope this clears up everything and if you still have any confusions, please let me know in the comments. ] 

************************

"This is" NOT "the end." 

(23 August 2014, Texas)

 

Niall, Ashton, Zayn, Dan, Sandy, Josh and Jon were all waiting in the living area in the house for Liam ; he was talking to the management on phone one last time before the big announcement. 

When Liam entered in the living area, everyone's eyes turned to look at him. 

" Everything is settled, they had a talk with the publisher and they said that it will happen as soon as we will give it a go. They just need our assurance one more time. " Liam said while looking at everyone.

After a few moments of silence they all nodded their heads in yes, because they all had thought about it for a while now and talked about it so many times ; they all needed this. 

" So it's a yes then." Liam states what everyone was trying to say and once again dials the management's number. 

" Yes." with that he hangs up the call and looks at everyone in the room, hoping what they just said yes to was not a mistake ; but they all needed this. Now it's all up to their fans whom they also call their family, to accept or hate them . 

\------------------------------

(Same Day, Manchester)

Luke was going through his Twitter on his laptop while sitting on his bed in his room and the other three were just watching some movie in the living room, when he first time saw the news.

It felt like his heart fell into his stomach. He could not even form a single word. He read that first line and the banner over and over again and checked if it was a hoax news but every time he feels himself torn bit by bit even more than before. (The article that The Sun posted about One Direction breaking up. "This Is THE End") 

He didn't knew when he started crying until he saw the tears dropped on his laptop. That's when he screamed for the boys and with in a second all the boys were by his side. He was shaking like a leaf and tears were continuously falling down his cheeks, doesn't matter how many times he wipes them.

All the 3 boys were beyond worried for their friend. They asked him but he couldn't said anything but to point to the laptop. Louis was the one to read the news out loud and he did the same as Luke and tried to look for any signs of it being a hoax. But when he could not find any of the hints he checked the twitter trends and that's when it all fall upon them that it was not a hoax news.

One Direction was splitting up.

\-----

It's been hours since they all saw the news on Laptop, TV and just everywhere, they didn't go back to their Jobs too next day. Now it was Monday and none of them had the energy to do anything or face anyone. 

Some would say, why three working and almost 24 year old guys will behave like some teenage girls over a boy band but for them and whole alot of people like them, those boys were everything and they were their guardian angels who helped them through their lives. 

They were so torn and stressed that they literally shut down their mobile phones and laptops. They were just laying in their separate bedroom without sleep until someone started banging like crazy on their front door. Calum got up and answered the door,

" what the fu¢k man, do you want yourself to get killed cause if you do, all four of us are ready to kill someone specially that As$hole Dan." Calum said with red & angry face and closed eyes to the person in front of him, his next door neighbor Mrs. Schneider , an old woman from Germany. 

" Es tut mir leid Calum aber, you boys should switch on your phones and computers. There is something waiting for you in the news." The sweet old lady said while smiling to the devastated boy in front of her and gave him a platter full of German homemade sweets.

" Uhhh I'm sorry Charlie for my language it's just we all are just..... " he said while hugging her. 

" I know son and that's why I'm telling you to switch on your devices, I tried calling you but they all are off. You boys should check your twitter immediately. And have some of this I made them just for you. " she said and patted on his cheek and left. 

Calum was definitely confused but still he sat on the sofa in the living room and switched the Laptop on that was sitting on the table. As soon as the Wi-Fi connection started and he opened his Twitter page the first few tweets made him squeal in happiness. 

" LUKE , LOUIS , ASHTON , GUYS GET YOUR BUTTS IN HERE RIGHT NOW." he started screamed while jumping on the sofa. 

They all ran out of there room in a split second after hearing him. Luke and Louis got bumped into each other in the head while trying to get there faster and fell on the floor. 

" Ow.... wtf Lou get your a$$ off of me I'm saving myself for someone." 

"Oh yeah....? I thought that was taken by some girl name....." before he could say the name Luke slapped his hand on Louis' mouth. 

" Don't you dare say her name. I still regret it. But now I'm just saving myself for someone special. Now let's go to Cal." 

When the two boys looked at the other two jumping, crying and hugging each other while saying " yes, yes, yes. I fu¢king knew it. I knew that fu¢king a$$hole Dan was a liar. ", they get there even more faster. 

When the rest of the two saw the laptop screen and read what was on the display they all screaming and dancing also , even without the music. 

They were laughing, dancing, jumping, hugging each other and cursing to that liar. But during all that time their eyes were wet and tears were again streaming down there faces, the only difference was that now they were happy tears. 

Because it was not the end. 

 

\----------------------------------------

( 13 December 2015, Manchester) 

It's been 478 days since the announcement and 365 days since the hiatus started. Everyone was doing fine but the vacuum was still there.

During the whole 2015 year the Fandom was missing daily photos and videos from their concerts and shows but When November came around, everyone missed the boys on a whole lot of level because that year there was no album to look out for. 

No Limits was doing great and Louis' job was also very good. The weekly Karaoke nights were on fire because now they were not only 2 days a week but 4, on the public demand. And all the tip and donations they get from the shows, which was whole a lot, they donate it to the charities like  
Alzheimer's Association,  
Comic Relief,  
Global Poverty Project,  
Project Greenpeace,  
Mines Advisory Group,  
Nordoff Robbins,  
Small Steps Project,  
Sport Relief 

And more ; they all were also supported by One Direction. So in one way, they were giving back all the money they were earning by using the karaoke nights, to the people who were supposed to get it from the boys. And they were proud of themselves for that. 

Today they celebrated the day on a happy note just to cheer the crowd with playing 'One Way or Another' ; it was the one year anniversary of the hiatus. 

That day they started the karaoke early and kept it a bit longer than usual. It was an amazing experience for everyone there. Most of the people were there just to enjoy the amazing atmosphere and bring out the 1D fever that was suppressed inside their hearts throughout the year. 

People were screaming to the 1D songs and were dancing like crazy with each other. It was like a tiniest - tiny 1D concert. Forever Young played 15 songs from all the three Albums by the Boy band but none from the album "Four" which was yet to be played by the band ; giving respect to the band. 

But the little did they knew that a group of four people was in the crowd that was watching them from the past 2 months and also had watched every single video of the band performing one direction songs. 

\------------------------------

(3 months ago, 15 Sep 2015, London) 

"What the hell are you guys talking about?" man standing in front of them barked to the 4 members of the back band of One Direction. They all were there to renew their agreements with the management. 

" We are stating our decision. We do not want to pursue with you guy's shit anymore . We want to end our agreement with you ; all four of us." Josh said standing out to him with his hands folded in front of him. 

"You can not do that, you know. You all have signed up for however longer one direction goes on the tours. All of you are bound to be with the band, whether you like it or not. And if you tried to break the agreement, all of you will be sued with big amount of penalties.", The guy in the suit huffed at them. 

" We knew about all the shit lies you were going to tell us, that's why we brought our Lawyer with us. And btw we only signed up for three years and all of our agreements end this year in September so we are sure that we are not breaking any kind of rules here."

(A/N : I don't know about for how long the four boys have signed up for in reality but just pretend like this in the story.) 

With that all the four boys and the lawyer continued their meeting with the management and in the end finally they all got off of the hook with the management.

It was not like that they never thought about the band and the boys. They did discussed it all with the boys and that is how they end up at the management office that day. One direction was bound under the management for long time but the back band wasn't. So after talking and discussing everything between the 8 boys it all came to the decision. 

Now One Direction was a boy band without a back band. 

From the next day on the management started searching for their new back band but they kept it as a secret, not to spread any rumors around. 

But they didn't knew about the one thing that One Direction already set their own seekers. And those seekers were the best judges for the job ; Sandy Beales, Jon Shone , Dan Richards and Josh Devine. 

After searching on the Internet and via other human resources for days, Jon finally found a YouTube channel called "One Direction - Forever Young" . All the four boys spend few days in row to watch all of their videos and went to their cafe a handful of times, they found that those boyscould be the perfect replacement for them. 

When the four boys decided to quit the job, the only condition One Direction boys put was that the other boys will be the one who will find their successors. 

And finally they have found them. 

\------------------------------

(20 Dec 2015, Manchester)

The night was going great and the karaoke was doing as great as ever. The boys were about to perform their last song of the night ; Rock Me. The cafe was packed but the staff hired by the boys were handling it all very well. 

The 8 boys from the world famous band were also there but they all were too hard to get recognized by anyone their because of the make up and their baggy clothes. They sat at the end of the room and tried to get along with the crowd. 

For the first time in their life they experienced how it feels like to be at a One Direction concert, it was not a real one though but the effort Forever Young was putting in and all the praise from the crowd did make it seem some sort of a gig. They (8 boys) were all enjoying it. 

When the song begins and the four boys started performing, the only thing that came into the minds of those 8 boys was, that's it they found the new members of the world wide phenomenon. 

******************************

" A CHONCE" 

(20 December 2015, Manchester)  
. 

The night was over for No Limits and all the 4 boys were having a celebratory beer for another successful weekend of the cafe, karaoke and Forever Young.

Michael got up first and was about to throw his empty bottle in recycle bin, when he saw a group of people sitting on the corner seat in cafe. He looked around if there were any other people around but there were none so he walked to them.

" Hey mates, the night is over and we are going to close the cafe, I think it's time for you guys to head out." he said to the group of 9 people he knew after the head count.

The one who looked kind of buff spoke, "well we want to talk about something with the owners of the cafe." 

" Well I am a owner of this cafe so you can talk to me." Michael said folding his arms. 

"We know, you are. But we wanted to talk to all 4 of you. So could you please call them too; it's really important." the guy said. 

"umm OK." Michael said and called the boys over. When the other three reached there Louis asked if everything was okay, so Michael told them about it. 

"Okay, here we are now. So go ahead." Louis said standing in front of the group along with his 3 friends. They all were a bit alert due to the late night and the suspicious vibes they were getting from the group. But the area was very safe and all the 4 boys were also well trained for self defense. 

"We wanted to ask, if you guys want to give your band 'Forever Young' a chance to play on a bigger level." the same buff guy said.

4 boys looked at each other in confusion, then Calum said giving all of their thoughts a voice, 

" What's that suppose to mean?" 

" We are here to offer you guys a job. Actually to hire you guys as a back band for a very famous pop band."

The reaction was again the same as before but after a few moments they all burst into laughter. 

" Listen mate we don't know who gave you this suggestion but I would advise you to go and look some where else. Because we are really happy where we are now and we do not have time for anything else." Louis said chuckling. 

" I know you guys are doing great and your band is doing awesome. That is why we are here asking you for this. You 4 would be perfect for the job. This band really needs you. " the buff guy pleaded. 

" Listen Mr..... "

" Paul. Just call me Paul." 

"Listen Paul we understand that you need us but we are also bound with our jobs. And when it comes to play for a band, we only play One Direction songs and our band is also dedicated to the band. So I request you to please look some where else and kindly leave our premises. " Luke said calm and composed. 

" NO, we are not going anywhere else, because we only need you guys. And you lads are the perfect fit for this job." a guy sitting beside Paul slapped his hand on the table and said standing up in the frustration. 

" Josh, calm down." a guy sitting across him scolded. 

" OK, that's it. You guys are leaving now cause this discussion ends here. " Louis says annoyed and points to the door. 

" No please listen to us. We really need you lots. We are opening soon and we don't have a back band." another guy said and the group was looking at them with pleading eyes. 

" Sorry guys." calum says. 

" No please don't say that, we've been following you guys from past two months. " Josh says. 

" What? " all the 4 says in unison and looked at the group. All the 9, bow their heads down in embarrassment. 

"OK that's it you creeps. Out out out." Louis says and he grabs the guy that was sitting near him but haven't said anything yet, and drags him out of his seat to the exit. 

"Ow Ow Ow, you're hurting me man. We only wanted to give you lads A CHONCE." the guy said. But with in a second everything fell into silence. 

"What did you just said?" Luke said to him after a few moments. 

"Ididn'tsaidanything." the guy muffled under his breath. 

"No. Come on say it." 

" I said we only wanted to give youladsachance" he awkwardly coughs and hides his face behind his hand. 

"Look at me." Louis orders him. 

"What?" Paul says baffled. 

" I said look at me." 

Louis ignores Paul completely and focused on the guy in front of him who was trying to hide his face. But when the guy doesn't responds Louis advances and tries to remove his hand but instead of only the guy's hand something else comes off from his face ; his beard. 

When Louis and the other guys looks at the guy's face, they all took a few steps back in absolute shock. 

"Holy$hit... you you you you" Louis was the only one who could said anything and the rest were just pointing their fingers to the guy, same like Louis was doing along blabbering.

"OK ok you guys need to calm down. We don't want anyone's attention at this time to us. So please guys just shhhh." Paul says and puts his finger on his lips. 

" Calm down. How the fu¢k we can calm down, man. He's Niall fu¢King Horan and.... Oh my God your PAUL HIGGINS and they all are....... Shiiiiiiiiiiittttt... I'm going crazy. Is this even real. " Louis continues his rant and starts to fan his face with his hands while having a fangirllllll or boy.. Moment something like that. 

" OK man just calm down and tell us, do you guys live near by, cause we really need to talk. And at this time it's not safe here, I think." Paul says again. 

"OK ok ok and yeah, we do live like two blocks from here. We can go there. Just give us a sec to close the cafe. HOLY SHITTT" and yeah Louis was definitely having a fanboy moment. 

So after the boys closes the cafe, the 9 got into their two cars and the other 4 in their's. Calum was the one this time to talk and said to follow them upstairs on the second floor. 

When all the thirteen people reached at the flat, It seemed like a chaos to the 4 because as soon as the group removed their masks. They started hyperventilating. 

But after few moments they controlled themselves and offered their guests some hot drinks. 

"So what do you guys think, would you like to join the band?" Liam asked looking at them hopefully with his oh so famous puppy eyes. 

All 4 of them started choking and coughing on their beverages after that and then Michael asks with big shocked eyes, 

" were guys serious before? "

" Well yeah. I don't think if we weren't, we'd be having this hot chocolate here, would we?" Sandy said in a matter of fact sense. 

"But what happened to you guys, weren't you the back band for One Direction." Calum said confused. 

"You're right, we were...... But not anymore." Josh said this time. 

The 4 boys gave them confused looks so Paul explained everything. From how overwhelmed they were when they decided to go to the hiatus, about modest and how they were making them overwork and how in this past year the 4 boys decided to leave the band. They also explained their personal reasons why they were leaving and the reason why they could but One Direction boys could not leave the band. 

When the explanation finished the 4 Manchester boys were furious with the Modest management. They just wanted to teach them a lesson for how much they troubled their idols ; specially Louis. 

" Listen guys I know you need us to join the band and all, but do you think that the fans will accept us. I mean we can never replace you guys. You are The Sandy, Josh, Jon and Dan. We are nothing." Luke said. 

"O c'mon we are not that famous." Dan says. 

" Are you kidding me. You guys may think that your fans only love these 4 lads here but we respect all of you, and we are fan of all the damn package. Each and every member that comes with in the range of One Direction team and is their well-wisher, we are fan of them." 

" ok we understand but you guys should know that we are not anymore with One Direction and that means, One Direction needs a back band. " Jon says. 

" We've been observing you guys from the past two months and you guys are the best at this. You guys can play the instruments AND you guys can sing amazingly well , that's a plus point for us. We would be needing a lot of new things when we'll be back. 

Please guys think about it, we really need you, and if you are thinking that people will not going to like you than just remember your karaoke nights ; they are smashing. Now just imagine how good we all could be for One Direction and the fans. 

Just please think about it before you make up your mind. " Liam finishes his rambling. 

The 4 boys looks at each other and after a moment Louis says, 

" Could you guys give us some time to think about it?"

"How long?" Ashton asks. 

" At least till tomorrow evening. You guys can give us any contact number to reach you on or maybe you guys can get ours or maybe someone can come to the cafe by 7pm tomorrow to know our decision." Michael says. 

" OK. Here type your number in my phone and we'll talk to you lads in the evening tomorrow and then we can see where it all goes. "Paul gives him his phone. 

" okay, I think it's time for us to reach the hotel ; it's really late now. Btw thanks for the coffee and the hot chocolate. Your cafe is really good. " Paul says. 

" You're welcome and please come anytime you want. You lads would be the first to served." Calum says smiling. 

They all laughed a little and started to walk towards the door, when Zayn grabs Louis' arm, turns him around and for the first time in the evening he says something. 

" I know it's a really big responsibility and you have to give up on your personal lives for this. There will be many ups and downs in the starting too but trust me they all will accept you really soon. I can guarantee you that. 

Don't forget, we were new at some point too and now that you guys have us, you should not worry about getting rejected. Because as soon as they will listen to you, they will fell in love with you guys too. Just trust me on this." Zayn says with an assuring smile. 

None of the boys could utter a word after that, they just gave them a nod with smiles to let them know that they are really thinking about it. 

" And by the way we really like the name of your cafe and your band." Niall says laughing and they all walk out the door. 

When Calum closes the door and turn to his flatmates they all did a really masculine thing. They all started squealing and jumping while hugging each other ; yeaaaaah reeeaaally Masculine thing. 

\------------------------------

(Next Day,  
One Direction Hotel Room)  
. 

"guys do you think they will say yes?" Ashton nervously asks.

"we don't know Ash, but all I know is that they will never let us down. I mean none of our fans ever let us down. And I can count on these guys specially." Niall says.

After a while when the clock ticks 7 pm, Paul walks into the living room and asks everyone if they were ready to make the call. All the eight boys were there, they looked at each other before nodding their heads in yes.

Paul dialed the number but no one answered the phone, so once again he tries and again no answer. "guys they are not picking up." Paul says defeated.

" Just give it one more try Paul, maybe they are just busy." Zayn says hopefully.

"Allright." he dials again. After 2 rings someone picks up the phone. So Paul looks up at the boys and hints them that the call has been answered.

"Hey..... Yeah it's me..... Yeah I know that's why I called..... Yeah I did called twice before....... Oh... No it's ok... And..... Yeah.... Ok.... No it's ok. We understand..... All right..... Thanks though.......bye."

As soon as Paul hangs up the phone and turns to the group, they all started bombarding him with questions about what they said or what was their decision.

" Boys Boys Boys. Now hold on a second, let's just sit ok... "

" But what did they said Paul. C'mon tell us man. We are dying here." Niall whines while sitting on the sofa again with other lads and Paul.

" Well they had a kind of rushed crowd there at the cafe and that's why they couldn't answer the first two times ; they were really busy. So they apologized fo..... "

"cut to the main part man. What did they said about joining 1D ; the answer." and after zayn's saying that all the 8 started talking and bickering again. 

"YES." 

Paul said suddenly and made them all shut their mouths. 

"W-what?" Ashton stammered. 

"They said yes." Paul said looking at them with big smile and in a flash of moment he was crushed down by 8 bodies on him chanting yes yes yes. 

"But but but." Paul tries to speak beneath the boys. 

"But what?" they all scramble off of him and sat down on the floor in front of him. 

" They said they need at least a month to handle their business and job issues, which I think we can bare." he states. 

"Yes, definitely." Liam says. 

"So when are you guys telling the management about this?" Sandy asks. 

"Tomorrow. 

Right now I'm going to call them and let them know that we have something really important to share and then tomorrow we'll have the meeting in London." Liam says. 

 

(A/N : Just wanna say that I love and respect them as much as I love my 5 angels. Thanks guys for all the great times.) 

 

\-------------------------------

 

(23 December 2015, London)  
. 

 

Liam called the management and fixed a meating with them for the next day at One Direction house in London ; due to all the secrecy. At first, management rejected the idea right away but when all the 4 boys stood by their decision, they agreed to meet them and have the audition in the house. 

So Liam called the boys and let them knew that they were going to have a meeting with the management and an audition for the job. At first they hesitated because they never went through any kind of auditions before and this was the biggest of them all but then after some encouraging they all said yes. 

Right now Liam, Niall, Zayn and Ashton were waiting in the living area of the house, along with people from the management ; Richard Griffiths and Harry Magee. 

Paul picked the four Manchester boys up from the airport. Boys were all nervous and fidgety, but they had a really strong reason for that. This meeting was going to change there lives if it turns out to be a good meeting. 

When the car took the turn and enter in the driveway to the mansion, all of their mouths hung open in amaze except for Paul's, who was smiling at their reactions. 

"Allright their boys?" Paul asked in amusement to them but he only got head shakes in No with mouth still hung open while they were ogling the house with big eyes. That made him raise his eyebrows in question. 

" We can't do this. We are going to make fool out of ourselves. This is not really happening. I'm going to $hit my pants." Those were the answers Paul got from Calum, Louis, Michael and Luke in the exact formation. 

"OK that's enough of being idiots, now get out of the car this instance or I'm going to act like your bodyguard before they even hire you. Because I have alot of experience and I can pick you all up to bring you all inside without any problem." Paul said and got out of the car while giving them each a pointed look. 

After a few moments they all got out of the car and fixed themselves and their clothes ; they were still a mess inside their head. When Paul opened the door for them and beckoned them to the door they all said in sync, " $hit, Let's do this." 

As soon as 4 of them walked in, the other 4 stood up from where they were sitting and welcome them with smiles. 

The four boys were finally feeling a bit better and relieved until they saw something or maybe someone or two and their nervousness turned into rage ; Griffiths and Magee stood up where he was sitting on the sofa and turned to them. 

The feeling all the four boys were having that time was beyond explanatory. They knew really well who the men were and what they and others from the management really did to their idols. All the sad and depressed faces of the 1d boys flashed into their minds remembering when they told them how they were treated by the management and had to take the break to reduce the amount of stress. 

They were all furious to punch the two men in the balls.... Well...... maybe they should do it. 

Liam cleared his throat to cut the tension between the four and the two and introduced them. The introduction went really awkward because all the four boys shake the two's hands really tightly and roughly. 

The meeting was even more awkward and full of tension between them. Every time when the two tries to ask any questions, the four will answer with straight face and rude voice. Only time you can get the glimpse of smile on their faces were when the 1d boys or Paul were talking to them or when they bash the two control freaks. 

" All right, as far as I can see these boys here has no experience of playing with a band at all , not to talk about playing with the world famous like your's. So in my opinion we should hire the one we chose because they have pretty good experience and are in the industry from past few years. " Magee said while folding his hands in front of him with straight face and nose up in arrogance. 

" Listen.... "

Before Liam could answer, Ashton cut him off and said. " And how long do you think we have to give them to learn all of our songs to play for the crowd. Because yesterday when we talked to you, YOU said we don't have time to waste on stupid things. And AS FAR AS I can see, hiring a band who doesn't know how to play a single song of our band is the stupidest thing to do, while you have a band who knows to play each and every single song of ours and can sing too." Ashton lashes out in fury and folds his hands too to mock him. 

If the room weren't heating up until now, it was now on fire due to the tension. 

" Allright let's do one thing, we will give them 3 songs for the audition of our choice to play and sing as well and if they were not good at them, you will accept our rejection on them without questioning us." Richard spoke to reduce the heat between the two. 

"Allright." 

Liam turns to look at the others and gives them a look to ask if they were okay with that and they all nods their heads in yes. 

The four boys got only 1 hour to get ready for the audition in the recording studio that was in the house. After they got familiar with the equipments, they started performing the songs,

It's gotta be you.  
Little Things.  
Midnight Memories. 

When they stopped singing, all of the people that were sitting outside of the recording room were shocked. Even though Paul and other 4 have heard them sing before but listing to their voices and instruments like this was a total different experience. They all were really great at that. 

As soon as they all walked out of the recording room, 1d boys and Paul started praising them by patting them on the shoulder and giving them thumbs up with the smiles. 

Again they all gathered in the living room to discuss further. The way Harry and Richard were behaving and talking, it seemed like they agreed to hiring them. 

The discussion was going smoothly until Richard started talking about family and personal issues. When he asked them about their relationship and personal lives, they all felt the same rage rushed through their veins again like before. 

They all were well aware of that how much of Homophobic the management was. Even though none of the Manchester boys said anything before but they all knew about Ziam and how they had to hide it from the fans because of the management. They all knew how much Zayn had to suffer because of their pressures. So Louis took it upon himself and spoke with anger seething through his voice...

" What we do in our personal life and who we date, should not be your concern Mr. Griffiths." 

"But it is Mr. Tomlinson. Whatever you guys would be doing , it would effect the image of One Direction, If we hired you all." Richard said. 

" Well in that case you should be glad that we are all single and are not planning to date anyone soon." Calum said in calm voice pushing his anger behind while calming Louis down also. Louis was about to say something but when Calum gave him a look to stop, he controlled himself. 

" Seems like it's going to be a different direction this time, isn't it Mr. Magee." Richard looked at Harry and chuckled. But before he could answer that Paul spoke up after reading the angry face expressions of the Manchester boys.. 

"Let's just finish this meeting soon. It's getting quite late for all of us, isn't it." 

" What's the rush Higgins and we would like it if you would just stay away from this." Harry said. 

" Don't you dare talk to him like that ever again." Zayn finally said in anger after listening to their crap talking for too long. 

" Oh great, now Zayn can spea...... "

" I said DON'T . " Zayn said with his voice rising and angry eyes . 

After that everything fell into silence but after few moments Liam spoke, 

" What are your words on the boys, but.... before you say anything we all want to let you know that we will be only performing with them. It's them or no one. Your choice. And if we go down and One Direction breaks up after this, I would be the first one to tell the media and the fans, reason behind 1D's fall aka you lots. NOW tell us your decision. " He sits back in the sofa and crosses his legs with straight face. 

The two clowns were silent as dead after that, because they already knew that they did not have any option other than hiring them. So they just did that and within an hour all the paperwork was done.

Calum Hood, Michael Clifford, Louis Tomlinson and Luke Hemmings were now in One Direction. 

Even though they were hired but their contact with the band was until the first tour ends in October and if something goes wrong during this time, their contracts will be terminated. But if everything goes as smoothly as planned and the fans loves them, they will be hired 'till One Direction stays. 

After they sign up the contracts they all were smiling really big, well except for the two grumpy ogres. When the meeting finally finished, Liam offered them to have some celebratory drinks. At first the two refused but after more insisting they said yes. 

When Liam went to the kitchen, he asked Calum and Louis to help him, so they went along with him.

" What were you thinking back then, Louis. How can you talk to them like that." Liam whisper shouted at him while taking out the glasses and Champagne bottle. 

"ME, are you seriously asking me, why I did that. We all know how do they act with you guys and how they are controlling your lives. I'm not going to let that happen to us and now that we all are in this together, I will personally make sure that it never happens with you guys again too. Never Again." with that he leaves the kitchen with few glasses in one hand and a Champagne bottle in another that Liam just placed on the kitchen counter. 

Liam looked at Calum for anything but he just shrugged his shoulders and said, 

" I can't help you with this. What he just said, I totally agree with that. I'm just going to let you know one thing that from now on you guys will no longer be management's puppets." 

When he got back in the living area, Louis specifically gave the bottle to Paul, just to show the ogres that he is as important in the band as the others are. Paul looks at him then to others in surprise but they all give him nods with smiles to go ahead. He opens the bottle up and they all celebrate the formation of a New One Direction. 

When Harry and Richard said that they should leave now and were about to go out, suddenly Louis Volunteered to show them their way outside with a really charming smile on his face. 

Everyone in the room except for the three Manchester boys were confused because they didn't knew what was going on. Earlier, Louis was about to kill the two but now he was being the sweetest person to them, it was confusing the other 5 people in the room. So Calum shook his head while chuckling and motioned them all to the window near by the front door. 

They all were eavesdropping at them through the window like little kids. While Louis was talking with the two outside wearing the biggest smile on his face. 

"We are really thankful that you guys hired us and I promise you that you will never regret it. But I just want to tell you something else too." 

and suddenly his facial expressions changes from smiley to anger at them when he speaks again. 

"I know it quite rude but trust me this is me being polite to you. So...... listen to me and listen to me in really loud and clear voice you selfish piece of $hit, I am not going to let you and all of your pets control our lives. We all know how you treated those four wonderful people in there but I'm not going to let that happen anymore and trust me if you tried to do anything and play any dirty games with them or us, you would be the only one who will regret doing it. Got that. ...... Now, bugger off. "

With that he turns around and walks inside the door, leaving two shocked selfish ogres behind. 

When he closes the door behind him and looks around into the silent room, he found himself stared by 5 baffled looking people. But soon the silence was died down by a booming laugh of none another than Niall James Horan and after that Zayn, Ashton and Paul joins him too. But Liam was still looking at him in shock and when he came down from his shocked phase he asked, 

"Why.... How.... Why... Why did you do that?" 

Louis just shrugged his shoulders and said casually, "They deserved it." and walk inside the room. 

Niall pats him(Liam) on the shoulder and says, "It's going to be a fu¢king amazing restart." and walks ahead with Paul and Ashton chuckling. Then Zayn taps him on the shoulder and asks him when he turns around, 

"You okay?" 

" Yeah, it's just that what Louis is doing, is kind of making me insecured for us. I don't want them(management) to pull any other stunts on us. It's not that I'm against him(Louis) , I can totally understand him but I just can't see you and our relationship in more friction than it already is. " he says truly looking into Zayn's eyes with worry. 

" Hey don't you dare worry your beautiful heart and mind. And why do you think Louis did that, when he got angry at the relationship topic. It's because he knows about us, they all do." Zayn says smiling and caressing his face. 

"What?" Liam asks in surprise with eyes widened. 

" Yes, they do. Remember they are also our fan and our fans know everything about us. So just chill and show him that we all are in this together for once to fight for what is right for us, ok. " 

he was now looking at Liam's face with so much love , so Liam just nods his head in understanding and was about to say something but got interrupted by a Loud voice, 

" Oi Lovebirds, save all the affection for later. We still need to celebrate properly. " and all started laughing loudly. 

Louis William Tomlinson 

" Well someone is being quite opened up. I thought you were all nervous before." Paul mocks him. 

" Well that was before I saw those asshole$ but now I'm all pumped up and excited." he said with excitement ... 

They all just laugh more and then Ziam join them on the sofa. Liam was curious so he asked how did they find out about them so Luke said, 

" It's not that tough to see the fond in both of your eyes you know and don't forget we are your fans first. So........." he trailed off. 

Zayn turned to Liam smirking,

" Told You." 

Liam just nods his head smiling and they all started chatting and talking and planning about everything. How this is going to be, how soon they can move into the house, how soon they can start practicing and other important things. 

Luke, Louis, Calum and Michael eventually stayed the night there when the other 4 got to know that it was Louis' birthday next day and forced them to stay in. They all celebrated it with lots of fun and tried to get to know each other. When the clock hit 12 in the night they all sang Happy Birthday to Louis and asked for his birthday gift and he asked for the most unexpected and really thoughtful gift from the 4. 

To let the world know that One Direction is coming back. 

And they did fulfill his wish. 

24 December 2015


	2. "Harry" "Louis"

(March 2014, London )

Harry was in the hospital and after staying a month long in ICU, meanwhile being in coma for 9 days, he was shifted into a private room. He was immobile and had many severe injuries after his Jet crashed during the attack in the war zone. He was a fighter pilot in RAF (Royal Air Force). 

As soon as Anne, Harry's mother got the news about his son been admitted into the hospital, she headed to London, leaving anything and everything back at Cheshire. She was hysterical and really scared to loose her son, Harry was her only son after all, along with his elder sister Gemma. 

She spent all the days and nights at the hospital to take care of him. When Harry came out of the coma she was the happiest person in the world. And now that she got the news that Harry won't me needing the ICU anymore, she was even more happy. 

When Harry got settled in his hospital room and everything was checked to be good, she started talking to him, 

" How are you feeling my sunshine?" she asked while stroking his messy curls. 

"I'm feeling much better, Mom, because finally I'm out of that suffocating room." he joked referring to the ICU while smiling a dimpled one. 

Anne chuckled at her son's reply and said nodding her head, 

" I can tell how much you hated that room, because since the day you woke up, you daily nagged me about it. And trust me I hated that room too. Seeing you there on the bed attached to all those wires and machines, it was not a really good sight you know." she was tearing up while remembering all the scary and restless nights she spent in and outside of that room. 

" Hey, hey. Now don't do that. Look I'm totally fine and in a few days I'll be back at walking and running like before. I'm good, everything is good mom and I want to see you happy now. Enough with the Sad Old Anne, I want Happy Hippie Anne, just like she really is. So come on... " Harry tried to make Anne smile and less worried about him. Which did worked. 

After a few days Harry started walking, with the help of people ofcourse. But he was still weak so he had to stay in the hospital for a while more. 

One day when Anne reached hospital, she saw that some of Harry's senior were there to meet him. She introduced herself and after a while listening to them and leave, she turned to Harry who was now laying on the bed with his eyes closed, and said with the straight face. 

"I want you to quit." 

With in a second his eyes snapped open and he looked at Anne with his eyebrows frowned, "What did you said mom?" 

"I said I want you to quit from this job. I want you to apply for the PreVoluntary Release; ASAP." her face was nothing but serious and tone was really straight forward. 

" Mom what are you talking about, I haven't completed my 12 years of service period. Why should I leave now when I have 6 years left more. " he said. 

" Harry when you joined RAF in 2008, I supported you with my whole heart and since then, you have been away from me, but that's ok. I can live with that. But during all those times when I came to the hospitals to visit you and watch you laying there badly hurt, ripped my heart apart every single time. But after this time. No, not anymore. I'm not going to let that happen to you again. I don't care if you've got only 6 years left of your service, I'm not going to take any chances with you and your life anymore. And that's final. " She states her decision and lefts the room without giving her son a chance to argue back, to get some fresh air and control her tears when a nurse comes in to check on Harry. 

Harry was shocked would be an understatement because he never thought of quitting his job; ever. And after all those years of his mother's support towards his decisions, he never thought that she would ever say something like this. 

But he surely can understand where all of that was coming from. He was the youngest in the family and living away from your son and then seeing him in these kinds of situations, can break any person. So after thinking about it for a while and making the decision, he called his mother to make her come back in room. When Anne enter in the room, her hands were folded in front of her and eyebrows raised in demanding look. She asked, 

" And?" 

" OK. I'll do it. I'll apply for the PVR." 

he said with smiling a little and expanded his hands open to her mother as in asking for a hug. With a blink of an eye she was there with him engulfing him in a warm, tight yet gentle and heart warming embrace while kissing his head full of curls. She indeed was feeling bad for making him do something that he didn't wanted to. But for once she became selfish and thought about her son and not his service for the country ; She was a mother after all. 

He left RAF after a few months. It was a long procedure but because of his excellent service towards the country and with the help and support of his seniors, he got out of the procedure rather soon than anyone else but he still had to pay the penalty for that, in the shape of no pension or other support from RAF . But that he can bare. 

He was free now and that was bugging him really bad. So after a few weeks spending in Cheshire with his family he went back to London to look for another career. He still decided to stay in Aviation and that's why he applied for the Air Traffic Control at the Heathrow. Within few weeks he got selected and after training, he started his job there in September 2014. 

Harry worked there for only 10 months before his craving for flying started to bubble up again. And at the perfect moment when an opportunity to join a Commercial Airlines popped in and he accepted it.

But the only problem was that the job was for an American Airlines and that means he have to move to the States . 

When Harry told his mother about the job, he was sure that she was going to turn it down but for his surprise she said yes. 

So after serving his country as Fighter Pilot in the RAF for 6 years and missing the adventure of flying while working at the Heathrow Airport as an ATC officer for 10 months. Now from June 2015, he was again going to be in the sky. Where he really belongs. 

\------------------------------

Both of them, Louis and Harry, were happy where they were at the time. Whatever bad happened was left behind. Whether it was a physical wound or an emotional one, they all were now gone and forgotten. This was a really important and memorable part of their lives, because now life was giving them a Second Chance . 

\---------------------------------

(12 September 2016,   
Foxborough, USA)  
. 

It's been almost 9 months since their announcement of coming back and seven month since they started "On The Road Again" tour. It was now their 55th show of the tour in Foxborough, Massachusetts. 

Yes, they all did it, they all got accepted by the fans. In the start there were a few who hated them but the amount of positive responses faded them all away. They have performed 55 successful shows without any hiccups and with each show their self confidence improved even more. 

The 4 new members were not just in the back band but they were in the vocals too and in each show they had to perform one song ; all by themselves. 

They were having the best time of their lives with all the love and support from 1D members and fans also. 

It was the meet and greet with the fans after the show, where they all were now. Louis was talking to Preston when he heard someone calling his name and he turned around. He saw a really cute girl holding a cardboard cutout of himself and a pair of drumsticks in her hands, smiling at him. 

The cuteness of the girl and her sweet voice when again she called his name, brought a really bright smile on his face. He excused himself from Preston and went straight to the girl and kneeled down in front of her. 

" Hey there love, what's your name?" he asked. 

"My name's Maya. Umm.... Lou could you sign these for me. Please ." she said now being extremely shy. 

" Mmm I would love to but I wouldn't do it for free." 

"w-what, but why. I don't have anything to give you." she said suddenly in sad voice, you can literally see the tears pickling in her beautiful ocean blue eyes that were just like Louis'. 

"Hey, hey now don't cry there Love.... I was just asking for a hug and maybe a kiss on the cheek. But if you don't wanna do that then it's OK. I will sign them for you, but just don't cry, yeah." he says pacifying her immediately. 

Her face brighten up like a Christmas tree and she lunged forward on him to hug and later kissed his cheeks. Louis stumbled back on his bum with an oomph and started laughing with her while holding her close. 

They were still sitting on the floor while Louis was signing the cutout and the drumsticks for her and talking with her, when a woman came running to them with scared face. 

"Maya Grace Mlynowski, don't you ever do that again. You almost gave me and your cousin a heart attack, do you have any idea how worried we were when we couldn't find you anywhere. I was so scared that I called your uncle and now he is coming t....... " the mother of the girl stopped rambling when she recognized in who's lap her daughter was sitting on. 

" Hey, sorry about that. I didn't knew that she didn't let you guys know before she come to me. But don't worry she's completely and absolutely okay. And I'm sorry again." Louis apologized while passing the mother her daughter. 

" oh no... It's not your fault. It's just that she is crazy about you and drumming and she actually came here only because she wanted to meet you...... I'm Gemma by the way, her mum. " Gemma said extending her hand to Louis. 

Louis shook her hand and that name did rang a bell but he couldn't recall where he had heard it before. So he just pushed that thought behind his head and talked for a bit. 

When Maya and Gemma were about to leave, Louis asked them to wait for a minute and he ran inside their dressing rooms leaving the two standing there confused. When he came back he was hiding something behind his back and smiling mischievously at Maya and when she asked what he was hiding, he didn't said anything and just gave her what he was hiding. 

His own Drumsticks. 

At first she was confused but when she understood, the smile on her face was so big that it was splitting her face into two. She jumped from her mum's arms to him and wrapped herself around him while repeating the word, 'thank you' again and again. 

After that they said goodbye and Louis went back inside the dressing room smiling at the moment he just shared with little girl. 

Louis was sitting in the dressing room when his phone started ringing, it was his mum. He picked up the phone right away and tried to talk but the reception was not good enough to talk, so he walked outside on the parking lot after telling Preston. 

He was still talking on the phone when he heard his name called again in now much familiar voice and turned around to see that Maya was running towards him with open arms, holding the drumsticks that he gave her, in her hands. 

He said goodbye to her mum and slightly kneel down to pick her up. 

" Now what are you doing here all alone again by yourself , where is your mum? Hmmm." he asked looking around for any trace of her mother. 

" Mum's with Jenny inside, I was waiting here for them with my uncle. He is......." 

Before she could complete her sentence, she saw someone coming towards them . Maya looked closely and saw that it was her uncle and she said smiling in excitement to Louis, 

" Lou, that's my uncle H. Let me introduce you to him."

Louis smiled at the excitement of the little girl but when he turned around to look at the person behind him, his smile wiped off of his face and it became pale. The person that was coming towards them, stopped walking and had even more shocked expression. 

It's been 10 years since they last met. 

"Harry" "Louis" 

They both breathed out each other's name at the same time.

. 

******************************  
.

"You walked away from me,  
Never looking back at my broken state...  
when the night came in I was still there,   
left alone in the darkness on the street...  
I cried all night holding myself tight,  
Thinking bout you laying there all lifeless..."   
\- Broken State


	3. "I'm Fine."

(12 Sep 2016, Foxborough, USA)  
.

"Harry" "Louis"

All those years when he tried to make himself as strong as he was, seem like it was all worthless, when Louis looked into those beautiful green eyes once again. He wanted to hug him and melt down in his arms right there and then.

Maybe it's been a decade but those feelings which he had for him never died, no matter how hard he tried to shove them in the deepest corner of his heart.

But that was the real reason he was still feeling like this because he could never remove him from his heart and memories. He was the first and only person in his life to fall in love with.

When Louis felt a tug on his shirt he looked down to his arms which were still holding the little girl between them.

" Lou let's go to uncle H. I want you to meet him....." she whined holding his cheeks.

Louis couldn't speak a word because of the lump in his throat. He just put her down, kissed her forehead and caressed her cheeks while giving her a small smile before he turned around to walk away.

"Louis." Harry spoke in barely audible voice but Louis heard him ; he always had.

Louis turned back to him with his eyes closed and when Harry said "Please" with so much desperation, he looked up to him.

For few seconds it seem like the world stopped for them. It was like the person who was standing in front of them, only mattered and nothing else. They were finally able to see each other after all those years ; But .....

When Harry tried to take a step towards him, Louis realized what was happening and he shook his head looking straight into eyes with his own afraid and shocked eyes, to tell him not to come forward. Harry stalled his steps right away but look at him with so much yearn.

Louis kept shaking his head and mouthed "No. Please." to him before he rushed away and exit the parking area.

Harry was still looking at the place where Louis was standing a few seconds ago, when he heard Maya calling his name. He looked down to her,

" Do you know Louis, uncle H? She asked looking confused.

He kneel down in front of her and said before kissing her at the exact same place where Louis kissed her.

"No love, I don't." (not anymore at least) he said in his mind.

"Hey, Maya look what we got for you from the merch." Gemma said coming to them. Maya forgot about what she was going to say, after kissing his cheeks and she ran away to her mother.

Harry was still kneeling down with close eyes when he remembered it...

 

*Flashback*

 ( September 2005, Cheshire) 

.

 

He was standing on the chairs and dancing on to some rock music with his 3 best friends ; Nick, Adam and Mitch, in his classroom. Two of his best girl- friends were drumming on the benches ; Clare and Sarah.

Harry was looking at back of the room when Adam nudged him and nodded to the door. Harry turned around and there he saw him first time ; Louis. But he still couldn't see his face because he was looking at the whiteboard but Harry can see that he was wearing a school uniform. And because there were no uniforms at Cheshire High School, he said in his sassy voice.

"You do know that we don't have any uniforms in Cheshire High, right. Hey new boy looking at whiteboard, I'm talking to you." he smirked and crossed his hands.

When Louis heard that he turned around to look at the source, the voice came from. When he turned around with scowling face and about to sass back, he hold back his words.

Harry's mischievous smirk and confident gesture flushed down as soon as he got a look of the boy he was about to toy with. He was definitely not a bad guy but having a little bit of fun without hurting anyone, wasn't called bullying.

They were looking at each other in the eyes for like a few seconds but felt like an eternity to them. Harry couldn't hear that someone was calling him until Mitch pushed him and he fell on the floor with a loud,

" OW...... MAN WHAT THE FUCK....." he was still laying on the floor and rubbing his almost injured elbow when he heard him again and turned to look at him.

The guy with caramel hair, golden skin and beautiful ocean blue eyes was laughing at him out loud, covering his mouth with one hand while clutching his stomach with another.

At that very moment he decided that he would do anything to make the guy with ocean blue eyes, laugh like that ; even if he has to fall down like a thousand times.

 

*End of Flashback*

 

" Haz, you okay there ? We are ready to go, Love. " Gemma said out loud.

His eyes snapped open and brought him back from his memories. He wiped his tears and said " Yeah, I'm okay. I'm Fine . I'll be there in a sec."

He breathe in and breathe out for a few times to control over his emotions. When he found himself composed enough to face his family he stood up while fixing himself and his clothes before walking towards his car.

That memory was the start of their beautiful friendship.

 

******************************

"You haven't hold me in,  
You haven't wiped my tears.  
You haven't kissed me better,  
Because you don't know how  
many times I've been shattered.  
You're asking me if I'm alright,  
I would have said "I'm okay"  
I would have said "It's alright"  
But how can I say "I'm fine.",  
When I've cried all my life. "  
\- I'm Fine


	4. "Why Me?"

(12 Sep 2016, Foxborough, USA)  
.

Niall was in the boys' dressing room after the meet and greet, going through his social media when Preston walked in,

" Hey Niall, is Louis here or have you seen him?" he asked looking stressed.

" umm No, he's not here and I haven't seen him either in like half an hour. Why, is everything okay?" Niall said after thinking about it for a moment.

" well he told me like 20 minutes ago that he was going out in the parking lot to talk to her mom, because of the shitty reception in here but after like 10 minutes when I went out to look for him, he wasn't there. And I looked everywhere and asked every guard on the intercom if they have seen him but no success. His phone is off too." he said now more stressed than before.

" well, have you checked the bus."

"No, I haven't. Because I know he would not take a chance to go out there in the fans without any of the guards."

"Alright but still. You know what, lets check in there to make sure , would you take me to the bus." he said already getting up.

"yeah sure." and both of them walked out of the room.

When they all got together for the band, everyone clicked on with everyone, really quickly. They all were very comfortable with each other. Luke, Louis, Niall and Zayn got really close after that. Liam, Calum, Ashton and Michael made their own pack.

So now there were two packs in the band. 

 

\-------

Louis was infact in the bus. He was sitting on one of the sofa in the back of bus. His face was flushed and eyes were red, filled with unshed tears. He was sitting up straight on the sofa and was staring at the table in front of him but his eyes were clouded with the memories of his past.

He was also having the same flashback as Harry, when they first met back in the high-school in September 2005 ; it's been 11 years since they first met.

He still remember when he first time looked into those eyes, those beautiful green eyes that can make you smile whenever they look at you.

He got lost in them as soon as his own eyes met with his. He started smiling at remembering the moment when Harry fell down and screamed in pain and shock.

He can still remember the face he made and scrunched his nose in pain while rubbing his elbow like if it happened yesterday. He was laughing at him but he was still looking at him. It was too hard to avoid such a beautiful human in the sight.

 

*Flashback*

 

( September 2005, Cheshire)

.

 

" You like it don't you, watching me get hurt?" Harry looked at him with almost offended expression.

" Well I would definitely like to pay a penny to watch that fall again." he replied still trying to control his laugh.

" Ha Ha Ha, you are Funny." he sassed him.

" oh no thanks, but I like Louis better." he sassed back coming to him, folding his hands.

" What ? "

" You said 'Ha Ha Ha you are Funny' but my name is Louis. So......." he looked at him raising his eyebrows. Adam, Sarah, Mitch and Clare started laughing along with Louis after that.

" Shut up." Harry huffed and smiled a little.

" No, you get up." and he offered him his hand to help him up. Harry grabbed his hand and stood up.

" You Okay ?" Louis asked.

"No thanks but I like Harry better." Harry tried to mock him for earlier but failed miserably when no one laughed.

" You see, you need to learn a bit more from me before you even try to match my level of sass, alright Harold." he patted him on the cheeks.

" oh yeah and why is that? Are you some kind of sass master." he said smirking at him.

" In that case I am." he said lifting his head up in pride.

" What? "

" I'm Louis Tomlinson, Sass Master from Doncaster." and he started cackling.

" Oh Jesus..."

" oh don't bring Jesus into this... Harold. "

" stop calling me that, it annoys me."

" What ? "

" Harold. That is not my name."

" Oh yeah....." he started smiling at him mischievously.

" mmm what are you doing?" he said fixing himself out of the creepy smile he was getting from the boy in front of him.

" I know what I'm going to call you...." with that he started to walk to the seat that was empty in the back.

" And that is....?"

"Harold."

"Yeah ?"

"I'm going to call you, Harold." he said after sitting down on the chair.

" No, you're not." he said standing next to his seat.

" Yes, I am."

" No"

" Yes"

"No"

"Ye.. mmmmmm"

Harry covered his mouth with his hand.

 

*End Of Flashback *

 

Louis' eyes snapped open ; he was now laying back on the sofa. He could still feel his fingers on his mouth. His own fingers started tracing the skin where he could feel Harry's touch. His eyes closes once again and another memory flashes into his eyes.

 

*Flashback*

 

His mouth was covered again and stopping him from saying something but this time it was by someone else. Someone who was gripping on to him so tightly that he can already feel it bruising. His eyes were constantly shedding the tears of pain, hurt, embarrassment, weakness and been torn apart in heart.

He was trying to get away from the strong grip of the person, to scream for anyone to help him. He was thrashing every part of his body to get away from that horrible person.

 

*End of Flashback *

 

"Lou, Lou, man come out of it. It's just a dream. Lou wake up." Niall was trying to calm him down , Louis was thrashing his hands and feets everywhere while he was laid flat on the sofa. His eyes were clutched shut and tears were running down his face. He was mumbling something through his greeted teeth and closed mouth but Niall and Preston were unable to understand it.

" Here Niall, splash some of this water on his face may be he come back." Preston offers him a glass of water.

When Niall splashes him with some water on the face, he finally comes out of the dream. Louis rapidly gets up and scrambles away from them to the other end of the sofa. He looks at them with big, red and scared eyes which were filled with new load of tears. When he turns to look at Niall he couldn't hold himself from whimpering.

He was bitting his lips so hardly to control his tears that he could literally feel the metallic taste of his blood in mouth but it was not worth trying it because the tears were constantly running down his flushed cheeks.

When Niall opens up his arms to offer him a comfortable embrace, he scrambles off from where he was sitting, into Niall's arms. As soon as Louis feels the warm and sense of security from Niall, he breaks all of the dams of his emotions and started wailing into his arms.

' I'm going to make sure that no one comes in.' Preston mouths it to Niall and turns around to walk at the front part of the bus when he nods his head in agreement.

After a few minutes of harsh crying when he gets his strength to speak back Louis says,  
" Why, why, why, why....... W-Why me....? And af-ter a-all these ye-ars why does he-he have to come back now..... Why Niall why....?

Why Me? "

he was crying really hard on Niall's chest while clutching his T-shirt into a fist so tight that his knuckles were turning white.

" Lou, please calm down. It's alright everything is okay now....." Niall tries to calm him.

"No Niall, nothing is okay. I'm not okay. I've never been okay. And after seeing him today....." he couldn't complete his sentence and started crying again.

"Shhhhh. Stop talking Lou, you need to calm down first, yeah. We'll talk about it later if you want to or feel like. But for now just try to get everything out of your mind and try to sleep, okay." he starts caressing his hair with one hand and softly stroke on his spine with another to sooth him. Louis was still whimpering in his arms but at least he wasn't crying like before.

" Yeah, I will try. But - but promise you won't leave me alone in here, I just don't want to be alone right now. Please Niall, please stay with me. " He looks up at him from where his face was nuzzled into his chest, with red poofy eyes ; Niall's t-shirt was all drenched where Louis' eyes were hidden.

" Sure, Lou. I promise you, I will stay by your side. Just please try to calm your mind all right. You need to sleep, Tommo." he kisses him on his temple and earns a small sad smile from the broken guy in his arms.

After that Louis makes himself comfortable in his arms again and nuzzles into him further more. Niall hears a content sigh from the boy's lips before he could feel Louis' breathing evens out a couple of moments later. Louis got tired of that much crying and worked up mind and that helped him fall asleep quickly.

Niall was first time witnessing this side of Louis. Ever since they all got together, he had never seen him like this ever before. Louis Tomlinson was the guy who was funny, crazy, lovable, sincere and so much strong, in his eyes. He never expected to see him in this fragile stage.

Louis was the one who always fought for them with the management since the day one, without giving the two shit about what they will do to him. And here he was, laying in his arms after crying his eyes and heart out, scared to be left alone. He could never have imagine happening this to him. But he will do anything to help the poor guy, doesn't matter if he has to kill someone, he will do it. Just for his Tommo's sake.

Niall was so much wrapped up in his thoughts that he didn't realize everyone was already in the bus and looking at them with empty eyes. He looked from them to Preston, he nodded his head to let him know that they all saw what happened.

He looked back at the others and nods his head to let them know, everything was okay, they all gives him a little smile before going to the front part of the bus. After few more minutes the bus starts and they all were on their way to the hotel.

Niall stayed right beside him all the way to their hotel and when they reached their he stayed behind with Louis until everyone got out of the bus. When Preston and Paul came back to get them he gently stroked his head to wake him up,

" Lou, we've reached the hotel. It's time go in, wake up." Louis doesn't even flinched.

" Louis. Hey Lou, get up." this time he shakes his shoulder and Louis stirred in his sleep. After a couple of seconds he finally flutters his eyes open and looks up at Niall with his sad and puffy eyes.

" what.... "

" We've reached hotel and it's time for us to go inside. " Niall looks at him with soft eyes and says with a little smile to make him feel better.

"Oh...umm Thanks." he gets up from Niall's chest and sits beside him awkwardly looking down. Niall slowly stands up and streches his limbs.

"Niall..." he looks up at him with sad and a bit ashamed eyes.

" Yeah." he turns to him.

" umm did-did the others......" he looks down.

"Hey, hey don't you dare get all worked up for that okay. Because you don't have to worry about anyone." he sits down beside him.

"But..." he looks at him with red glassy eyes .

" No buts Louis. Listen to me, we all have something in our lives that makes us feel like what you are feeling right now. And you don't have to be ashamed of yourself for that, it was in your past but this is your future this is what you're living in not some shitty memories.

So please don't waste your tears on what happen before, ok. I don't know the reason behind your tears but all I can say is that if you ever needed someone to talk about it just remember I am always here for you, we all are okay. Now come on we have to go now, Paul and Preston's waiting for us. "

He wipes Louis' tears and gets up. He was about to walk ahead, when Louis holds his hand and stands up too. Niall looks at him confused but as soon as Louis engulfs him in a tight hug, he smiles and holds him steady.

" Thanks Niall, for being there for me. Thank you for making me feel safe and comfortable when I needed it the most. Thanks for helping me without expecting the answer. Thank you so much Ni. I love you so much Man." he shuts his eyes close to stop himself from crying more.

Niall does not says anything but hugs him tightly to let him know that he heard everything. When they break the hug Louis wipes his unshed tears and smiles at him after wearing his dark shades.

" Let's go. "

" Alright. " Niall laughs and holds him close by his shoulder and walks outside.

" You okay there, Louis ?" Paul asks and Preston looks at him too.

" Yeah, and thanks for staying for us." he looks from Paul to Preston.

" No problem lad, now come on. " Preston says and takes them through the media and the fans inside the hotel along with Paul.

When they reached to their hotel rooms everyone was sitting in the living area and after watching them come in, they all stood up.

" Lou, you okay, what happened? " Luke was the first to hug him and ask. Everyone was looking at him with curious eyes that were seeking some kind of explanation for what happened earlier. Louis looked at them hugging Luke and when they broke the hug, Louis looks at his face and gives him a reassuring smile.

They all sit down together and Louis starts speaking,

" I know all of you must be worried about what happened earlier this evening and I'm really sorry for that. I promise you that it will never happen again."

" You don't have to say sorry, Lou. But all we want to know is if you are OK and if you want to explain what happen but if only you want to. " Liam says looking concerned for his friend.

" I'm okay Li. And about what happened before, I can tell you guys only one thing......., I met someone today at the venue. Someone that I never thought I would ever meet in future again . Because of that, some of the old things brought up in my mind and I got worked up. So yeah I don't think it would happen again. " he looks at them with a small smile.

" Listen to me, Louis. If anyone ever tries to get to you again just let me know and I will handle them. You don't have to worry about that, okay. And let me show that person if you ever see him next time. I will beat the crap out of them. " before anyone else could speak, Preston says with firm and determined gesture.

Louis started laughing and says to him,

" Thank you Preston for the support but I don't think that would be happening anytime soon and by the way he's not a bad person, so you don't have to beat him."

" Alright if you say so. But still, if you need me, I will be your personal bodyguard and will leave these clowns on their own or on Paul's shoulders." And they all started laughing, along with a few offended " Hey..... ".

After that none of them asked Louis anything about it but Niall was observing him. And when he found him alone he asked him,

" That's not the reason why you cried, right."

" He can never be the reason behind my tears, Niall." Louis looked into his eyes.

" Then...."

" One day I will tell you, but not now. Trust me."

" It's alright, I don't need any explanation. All I want is for you to be happy, nothing else. "

" Thanks Ni. " he chuckles with him.

" By the way, who is HE that 'Can never be the reason behind your tears' ? Hmmmmm", he wiggles his eyebrows in excitement.

"Shut up, Niall." he smiles at the floor.

"Okayyyyyy..... so I was right....."

" Whaaaaat, what were you right about?" he puts his hand on his hip and asks him with raised eyebrows.

" oh, nothing. Nothing that matters to you though."

"You bet your a$$ it doesn't." he points a playful finger at him.

"Allright, I won't tell a soul about your HE." and he runs out of the kitchen laughing.

"I'm going to kill you Whore-Ann....." and he rushes after him, laughing .

******************************

"You walked in my life,  
Like you never left.  
You make me feel the feelings,  
Those I've been suppressed.  
Stop caring for me anymore ,  
Cause I may not have love to  
give you that much."


	5. "Hi, I'm Mike."

(23 September 2016, London)   
. 

It was a day before their OTRA European Tour starts and they had 6 shows in a row to play in London for next 6 days. They all were practicing really good in past couple of days but they all decided to take a day off before the rush starts. 

The group of four (Niall, Zayn, Luke and Louis) decided to walk around a bit and get some fresh air. They thought about passing out some free backstage entry passes or show tickets, to the fans they will meet. 

They were now roaming around the streets with 2 other guards in the back and Preston walking ahead of them. They gifted alot of backstage passes and tickets but all of them were getting hungry now and because Niall was with them, they decided to have some Nando's. 

They all were about to enter in the restaurant, when someone shouted, 

"LOUIS." and they turned to the source of the voice. 

There was standing Louis' friend, Mike. 

 

*****

Louis met him in February this year when he moved to London. One Direction was attending a function at this five star hotel and Louis just wanted to escape from all the media and the paparazzi those were literally trying to make him blind and deaf by flashing on his face and screaming in his ears. 

He was also missing someone terribly on that day. 

Louis sneaked out from the function to some area which seemed like a storage hall. He was walking around the area when something unusual catches his eyes. There was a grand acoustic piano set in the end of the hall and that particular area was so clean and beautiful. It was looking so beautiful and peaceful in the dim light. 

 

Louis suddenly became so eager to play the keys that he couldn't control over his moving legs and they brought him to the beautiful instrument. 

For a few moments he just admired the beauty was in front of his eyes while walking around it. There was a prominent smile on his face when he was walking around it and his fingers were smoothly brushing over the keys and the wooden body of the musical instrument. 

When he again came back in front of it, he slowly slid down on the plush leather seat beside. He gently ran his fingers over the keys before playing his favorite song and started humming along. 

The song was really close to his heart and somehow explains his feelings and love for someone specific. 

Once the song ends and he stopped playing and humming, he left his fingers resting on keys. There was a sad smile on his face and a few tears in his eyes. 

He was too lost into playing the instrument to feel the presence of someone else in room. But when someone slowly started clapping from behind him, his eyes snapped open and a tear rolled down his cheeks. 

His fingers find their way to his cheeks instantly wiping the wetness off of it. He turned around and there was a guy standing behind him wearing the brightest smile on his face.

But his face expressions turned in amazed when he looked at Louis' face. Louis was looking so soft sitting there in that sweater. He kept staring at his face until Louis cleared his throat, 

"oh I'm sorry, just got a bit distracted. But wow.... That was beautiful, the tune you played. It's one of my favorite song." the guy said smiling. 

"ummm thanks.... But I think I should go now. If anyone finds me in here, it's going to be a problem." Louis said getting up. 

"oh no, it's okay. No one usually comes to this side of the room." 

"And how do you know that, are you the owner of this hotel or something like that? Because if you are then I should be going out of this room right now." Louis said amused. 

" Why, what is wrong about being the owner of the hotel?" he asked confused. 

"first you can kick me out or maybe get me arrested for trespassing. Secondly, I am not much fond of arrogant rich people ." he said smiling. 

" Then I think it's good for you to stay because I'm not going to get you arrested." 

"So you're not the owner of this hotel?" 

"No but I do work here." 

"OK." 

"OK." 

Everything fell down in silence for couple of seconds but then the guy said to Louis offering his hand. 

"Hi, I'm Mike." 

"I'm Louis."

And they both shake hands but right after that Mike's phone started ringing. He excused himself and answered the call. 

"Yeah Dad.... No, I'm still at work...... Yeah I tried to call them a few days ago but their assistant said to call them on 4th of Feb, they were in Australia then.......ummmm today is......." he looked at Louis for help. 

"1st of February" Louis answered him and Mike gives him a thank you smile. 

"yeah Dad it 1st today, so I'll talk to them on 4th..... You don't worry about it. I'll handle it myself..... OK.... Bye" he hangs up the call and says . 

"Thanks." 

"It's okay." 

And that's how they first met. After that they bumped into each other a couple of times before the tour starts and they exchanged their numbers. They became really good friend after they started talking on the phone . 

During the tour, whenever Mike gets the opportunity to meet him while he was on trip for his job, they plans to do something fun and adventurous. Louis never thought that he would find him this much fun and out going. 

There were no romantic feelings between them, at least not from Louis' side. All the boys were well aware of his "No Relationship , No Risk " moto, but they also knew that Mike always had some innocent feelings for the guy. And that is why they were all careful and alert about their friendship, because none of the boys wanted to see any of the two get hurt . 

*****

Mike was smiling as big and bright as he always when he looks at Louis' face. Louis' face also lights up like a Christmas tree and he runs to him. They both hug tightly and started laughing, while Mike was spinning him around. 

And the three abandoned boys rolled their eyes but were still smiling at their little reunion. 

"When did you get back from Moscow, you idiot and why the hell you didn't tell me ?" Louis hit him on the head even though he was a bit shorter than him. 

"Ow..... Why did you hit me...? See guys... That's what you get, when you run back to your friend to meet him and wish him good luck. A hit on the back of your head." he said looking at the three chuckling boys. 

"Fuck off, Varshawski." Louis pushed him and started walking away from him with a scowl. 

"okay. sorry, sorry, sorry it was my mistake that I didn't tell you that I was coming today. But as soon as the wedding happened, I took the first flight to London last night. 

I didn't even said goodbye to my cousin. And you know, I haven't even gobbled a single bite since I reached here. Now c'mon, I'm hungry." he started whining in front of him and that made Louis go soft on him again . 

" Asshole ." he started smiling at the idiot in front of him and dragged him into the restaurant. After them they all walked into the restaurant as well. 

They all eat there and chill out for a while. Mike got a call from his office and that's why he took off earlier with making a promise to see them all at their show the day after tomorrow. 

They were all now waiting for their car outside of the restaurant when someone bumped into Louis, 

"Oh I'm sorry. I Wasn't watching my way." the person said adjusting his kid on shoulder. 

"It's okay, no problem." Louis smiled at him but then someone groggily said his name, 

"Lou ?" it was the little girl on the man's shoulder. 

Louis smiled when he recognized the girl as Maya. When she blinked her eyes a few times to clear her vision, she recognized him and lunged at him shrieking in happiness. 

"LOUUUUUUU, it's youuuuuu." 

Louis catches her before she falls from the shocked man's embrace. 

"Maya, oh my God. Be careful love. You could have fallen." he hugged her tightly and she started laughing and giggling. 

"Excuse me but do you know my daughter?" the confused man said looking at Louis suspiciously. 

"Oh I'm so sorry, I'm Louis Toml......." he got interrupted by Maya saying 

" Daddy, this is my Lou. Didn't I tell you about him last night. I even showed you his photo and drumsticks that he gave me when we met. Don't you remember ?" she said to her father, dramatically offended. 

" Look at his face. See, he's the same." she holds his cheeks between her tiny hands and squished them till his face turns to pouting, while showing his father. She did kissed him on the cheek after. 

" Oh yeah, I'm sorry. I'm Michal Mlynowski, Maya's father." and both of them handshake. 

" Hello and these are..... "

"Niall , Luke , Zayn and Preston ." she interrupted him again, pointing out each one and started giggling when his father gave him a look. 

"okay..... Miss I know them all." his father said and pinched her cheeks. 

"Daddyyyyyy don't do that.... It hurts." she rubs her cheeks staring at her father. 

"okay sorry love, but I think we should go now." 

"Noooooo...." she wrapped her arms around Louis neck even tightly and hid her face in his neck. They all started laughing at her protest. 

"But love, your uncle H would be here any minute now. Louis and the boys were also on their way to somewhere." he reasoned but she just shook her head and kept clinging on to Louis. 

But as soon as Louis heard what Michal said, he became nervous. He didn't want to meet him again. Before he could say something, Niall beat him to it, 

"Actually we were waiting here for our car to pick us up, it's okay if she wants to stay with us a while more." Niall said smiling to the girl when she gave him a thank you smile. 

When Niall turned to Louis' face he understood that something was wrong and he was about to ask him but before he could say anything, a car pulls up beside them, but it was not their car. 

When the person who was driving gets out of the car and turns to them, his face loses it's color, just like Louis' when he looks at him. 

Harry

Niall couldn't understand what was going on, after looking at them front and back. But when Louis looks at him, he gets the clue. It was the same guy from that day, and then he looks at him with his full attention. 

"Uncle H, daddy wouldn't let me stay with Lou for a while more. Please let me be with him until their car gets her to pick them. Pleaaassseeeee, preetyyyyyy pleaaassseeeee, Uncle H." she whines and gives him her puppy eyes look . 

"Uuu M, you should listen to your dad love and stop looking at me with those puppy eyes, it's not going to work ." Harry said to her and tries concentrate only on her, not the person who's arms were wrapped around her. 

"Oh no mate, the puppy eyes always works. It's because of them we are here, aren't we guys." Luke says and points to Louis. 

"Excuse me." Harry looks at him confused. 

"Well it was because of Louis who brought us all here on this day together and all of that happened because he made the exact same puppy eyes this afternoon and more than a year ago." and they started laughing. 

Louis just smiled a bit and looked down, he wouldn't dare to look into his eyes but he could feel that Harry was looking at his face constantly without blinking his eyes. 

Niall was noticing everything but wasn't saying or doing a thing to interrupt it. 

After few seconds the car to pick up the boys reached there but Maya refuses to leave Louis, even after his father scolds her. When Michal again try to grab her, Harry stops him from scolding her more because she starts crying. 

Harry a bit hesitantly and slowly walks towards Louis to talk to her, 

"M, bug, listen to me. They all needs to go now and you're mum's missing you too love. Come on now, be a brave girl and come to me. You're a good girl right." he says to her while petting her hair and giving her full attention, he hates to see her in tears. 

She doesn't reacts to him, so Harry looks up at Louis with pleading eyes to help him with it. Louis gives him a curt nod after looking into his eyes for a split second. He starts brushing his fingers through her hair when Harry removes his hand and says, 

"Hey Maya, do you know what I got in my jeans pocket ?" she shakes her head in no, still nuzzled into his neck. 

"Well would you give it look, it's in my hand now, Look." she slowly peeks from her hiding place in his neck but gets confused after seeing an envelope in his hand. She gives him a questioning look. 

"Well these are the tickets and backstage passes for tomorrow's show. Would you like to come and see us again?" and she starts smiling big with constant nods. 

"Yes, yes, yes Lou. Please I would love to." and as she was about to take them from his hand, he takes it away. 

"But...... You have to go with your Daddy and Uncle now, so you can come back tomorrow. Will you do that for me ?" he looks at her raising his eyebrows. 

She looks at his face then to the tickets for awhile and turns to Harry and gives him a confused look. So he smiles at her and gestures to the tickets. she asks him, 

" You sure ? "

" 100 %"

" Okay if you say so." she spreads her arms to him and when he takes a step forward to take her from Louis' arms , she grabs him by his shirt and pulls him in for a hug ; she was still in Louis' arms. 

As soon as Harry bumped into them, he comes face to face with Louis and both of their breaths hitched in surprise. They were inches apart and looking into each others eyes. 

It was the first time they get this close to each other in 10 years. They were almost hugging ; all thanks to Maya. 

What was about to happen in upcoming days was beyond their imagination. And what if someone else gets in between the two. It was all their twisted fate. 

******************************

"After so many years it feels so right,   
Why are you still holding on to your fears too tight. 

Just let them go,   
Don't hold on to them anymore. 

Cause now you are free,   
Now you got air to breath. 

After all what you've been through,   
And that time you've been feeling blue." 

\- 10 Years


	6. Home .

(23 September 2016, London)   
. 

When Maya pulled Harry for the group hug, that moment it felt like it was 2005 all over again to both of them ; the first time they felt something for each other. 

 

* Flashback *

 

( November 2005, Cheshire) 

Harry went to London for only two days and Louis was a mess without him, he couldn't concentrate on anything, neither he could eat, sleep nor study . He never felt this way even when he left his home and decided to continue his studies in Cheshire, 2 month ago. 

Whatever he does or thinks about, his mind always keep coming back to Harry. The way they used to eat together, play together, study together, all and all how they live together ; they were roommates after all. 

His thoughts were always clouded with a frog faced boy with curly hair and dimpled smile. 

It was Sunday afternoon when Adam called him and asked to meet him out of the bakery they always go to. At first Louis denied and stuffed his face further into the blanket to whine more about how much restless he was. But when Adam threatened him to not help him with his laundry he gave up ; after Harry, Adam was the one to help him with his laundry and other things. 

Louis huffed in annoyance and dragged himself out of the bed. He was too lazy to change into fresh clothes and because the bakery was only two buildings away, he threw a grey hoodie and a pair of track pants on. He slipped into some rusty shoes and walked out of his dorm room, closing and locking it after. 

Louis was literally dragging his feet while walking to the bakery, it was only 5 minutes away from dorm but because of his laziness, it took him 10 minutes to get there. His head and shoulders were sagged and his sight was only covering the area two feet ahead from his steps. 

He was still in his own world until he heard the family laugh he was lacking in for the last two days. His head snapped up and steps halted at the same time, same place . 

It was a feeling Louis never felt before. There were butterflies erupted in his stomach, his whole body was shaking with unfamiliar emotion, his heart was fluttering like the wings of a hummingbird, his eyes were watery with happy tears and lips twitching upwards in a smile that was putting on a show that all the emotions he was experiencing were a effect of extreme happiness. 

There was standing the person he was yearning for without even knowing that he was that much addicted to him. 

Harry was hugging Adam and Mitch. He was facing Louis but still couldn't see him standing there all surprised. 

The thing was that all the time he was in London, he was going through the exact same uneasiness that Louis was going through. He couldn't understand why he never felt the way he was feeling ever before for anyone else. 

But when he looked up and found him standing there looking at him like that, he couldn't control himself and his body went still and tears started blurring his sight at the realization of his feelings for the guy. 

Louis was unaware of his body movements and his feet started speeding up to the group, until he was only a feet away from them. Now he could clearly see all the emotions that pooling inside of Harry's eyes in the form of tears. 

His once forest green eyes were now turned into deep sea green eyes and were flooded with the sparkling liquid, mirroring Louis' cerulean ones. 

Harry was still embracing his two long time friend and was looking straight into Louis' eyes. It was like he forgot how to function his limbs and engulf the Sweet Creature standing in front of him with the most beautiful blue eyes he has ever seen. 

When Louis gave him a watery laugh, he showed him his pearly white as well while giving him a pleading look. It doesn't take long for Louis to understand what Harry was pleading for. He nodded his head rapidly and spread out his arms to engulf the group in his arms. 

As soon as Louis pulled them in, Adam and Mitch exclaimed in sync "LOUIS!" and Harry nodded his head and sighed out a quiet 'Yes' .

He was still looking in Louis' eyes that never blinked for a second. They both slowly tilted their head ahead until they were nudging each other. At the contact of their foreheads , both of them sighed in relief and closed their eyes resulting in the warm liquid that was in their eyes to roll down onto their cheeks. 

They were finally HOME. 

 

*End Of The Flashback.*

 

The feelings were same as before, Harry's eyes were still pleading for something that he himself was unaware of, but this time Louis' eyes were filled with uncertainties. 

Louis was feeling like his heart was going to explode any moment now. His eyes were threatening to spill the flood he was trying to control from the second Harry got out of his car. Having the person this close to him, that he never wished to see again in life was making him go week on his knees. But he was still standing there looking straight into his eyes and that was some kind of miracle in itself. 

Niall was looking at them in amusement until his eyes landed on Louis' left hand that was still holding the envelope ; they were shaking. That's when he gave a good look at Louis' face, which was infact pale and his eyes were watery. 

He advanced towards them and snaked his arm around Louis' back. At that Louis' head turned to him breaking the eye contact, he looked at him with his lips wobbling a bit. But he controls them by plucking between his teeth. 

Harry pulled Maya completely into his arms when she let go of Louis. He turns back to look at him again but his eyebrows frowning in anger ; he saw the way Niall's arms were around Louis' middle. 

Niall clears his throat to break the awkwardness of the situation and says holding Louis steady in his grip. 

" I think we should go now, we're getting late for our rehearsals." and he took the envelope from Louis and hand it over to Michal. 

"But we already finished the rehear......" before Luke could finish his sentence in confusion, Niall cut him off. 

"I said we are getting late, Luke." he gave him a look to not argue with him and Luke understood. 

"Oh yeah.... Sure guys... We'll see you tomorrow at the show." Michal said. 

"Sure... Or how else would we see this little angel again." Niall said tapping Maya's nose and all of them laughed when Maya whined ; except for two specific. 

After that they all bid their goodbyes to each other and walked away to their vehicles. Harry was still taking glances at Louis and Niall, and how Niall was still holding on to him even while getting into their car. But the thing made his eyes burn in anger and jaw clenched was, when even after settling down in the car, Louis didn't turned to him but to nuzzle into Niall. 

Louis was holding Niall's collar tight and his face was nuzzled into the crook of his neck, while Niall was holding him tight with his arms wrapped around keeping him secure. 

All of the scene was making Harry fume in jealousy, how can Louis do that in front of his eyes. But again he controls himself after thinking about all the years they have been away from each other ; maybe he has found someone else. Some fake blonde who literally cannot keep his hands off of HIS Louis. 

He sighs and gets in the driving seat after buckling Maya in the back and Michal taking the passenger seat. He drives away after taking a few breaths to calm his mind. 

\-------------

The vehicle was moving at it's smooth pace but no sound could be heard inside, except for the heavy and uneven breathing of someone, caused by their panic attack . 

Louis

He was aware of everyone's eyes on him but he was unable to take control over himself. He was still holding on to Niall like his life was depend on it while clutching his eyes tight, which were wet with some unshed tears. 

Niall was whispering soothing words into his ear while holding him close and slowly rocking both of them back and forth. Louis was secured in Niall's arms, his left hand was stroking Louis' spine and right hand was in his hair, fingers gently scratching his scalp. 

All the help was finally working on Louis and he started to calm down. Louis can not thank him enough for being there for him, he was also thankful to everyone in the car for not asking any questions. 

When all of them arrived back at the mansion, they all took a breath of relief as they did not find anyone else in the house ; other people had different plans to spend their free time. They all kept quiet and gave Louis some time to get fresh and change his clothes. 

After few minutes when Louis walked out of his room downstairs , he found everyone sitting in the living area, just like the day when he had the first episode of his panic attack. 

Sagging his shoulder he walked to the nearest sofa and slumped on it. All of the four pairs of eyes turned to him in curiosity but Preston was the first one to question. 

"Are you okay now?" 

Louis just nodded his head and grabbed the cup of tea that was waiting for him on the center table. He took a sip of the lukewarm tea and hummed to the warm feeling of liquid sliding through his throat. 

"He is the one, Isn't he Lou?" Zayn asks directly this time and Louis looks at him creasing his eyebrows in confusion. 

"Maya's Uncle. He's the one who caused your panic attack today and that day too." Zayn stated instead of asking.

Louis looked down and nodding his head slightly. 

" Please tell us the truth Louis. Did he harmed you in anyway that whenever he comes across you, you start panicking. " Zayn was beyond concerned about him now. 

Louis looks up at him with wide eyes and says while shaking his head, 

"NO. He never did anything wrong to me. He never could." 

"Then what caused you to go into panic mode, If he didn't do anything bad ? Why everytime you come face to face him, it always ends up with you crying your eyes out?" Luke said getting furious at his bestfriend, thinking if he was hiding something. 

"I can not explain why, Luke." he looks straight into his eyes with his own glistening eyes. 

Niall gets up from where he was sitting on the sofa across from Louis and goes to sit next to him. He holds him close to his side and rubs his back to ease his stressed demeanor. 

" It's all right, you don't have to. But please tell us once and for all, do you want to see or talk to him again ?" 

"No, I don't think I will be able to talk to him ever again and it'll be better if we never met again too." he says, feeling a bit better in the warm embrace of his friend. 

"Alright guys now that's final, no more questions. And if you guys see that guy ever again near Louis, try to get Boo away from that place. Okay." Niall looks at everyone in the room with stern eyes. 

They all nodded in understanding. 

"I want to take a nap guys, If you'll excuse me." he was still looking down at his fingers that were fiddling with the hem of his hoodie, held securely in Niall's arms. 

They all said their yes and okays to that and Louis got up from the sofa after giving Niall a smile and a hug to thank him for the comfort. 

Louis walked upstairs into his room and closed the door behind him before laying down on his bed. It didn't take a second before the ocean that was held in until now in his heart to flood his eyes. 

He cried his heart out remembering all of the time he was with Harry. All of those days he spent with him laughing and all of those nights he stayed up just to watch the sunrise or some stupid movie. But his weeping becomes more intense when he remembers the day he decided to leave Cheshire and HIS Harry behind only after staying there for 10 months, because of his insecurities. 

He can never explain why he left Cheshire and Harry behind, in 2006. He has no one to answer for that, except for Harry. And that is why he didn't want to talk to him again, because he knew that Harry would ask him the question ; WHY ?

*

(7 October 2016, London Heathrow Airport )   
. 

Apparently all the shows in London and Manchester went really well and without any other bumps. At the first show in London, Maya did came but with her Mom and Dad only. She again met Louis and they spent a few minutes together talking. 

When Louis first saw her coming, he got a bit panicked but when Preston gave him a look that HE didn't come, Louis' heart calm down. 

They all were now at the airport and waiting for their private plane to get ready, they were heading to Glasgow for the next show there. 

Niall and Zayn were talking about something standing a bit away from the others until they were interrupted by a nervous looking Preston. 

" Hey guys, there's a problem with the pilot of our plane. Well actually the Pilot is our problem, if I put it correctly." he rambled in nervousness looking around them for someone specific. 

"What are you talking about?" Zayn asked confused. 

" When I was going through the security and other things about flight, that's when I met the pilot and you would never believe who the person is." 

"Who ?" Ziall asked together. 

" Harry Styles." 

"Who......?" they were still confused. 

"The guy from that day , Maya's Uncle." Preston explained. 

And the two guys standing in front of him went stiff. 

" W-what...... How can that be? The guy is a pilot?" Zayn asked in shock while Niall was already thinking about all the scenarios that could take place if Louis knew about this. 

"Well yes. Actually he's a Commercial Pilot but due to the shortage of staff and urgency of our situation , airport authorities assigned him for our flight. Now he's the one flying us to Glasgow." the stress was easily visible on Preston's face.

"Where is he ?" Niall asks. 

"He's in that room, waiting for the plane to get ready as well." 

Niall turns to where other boys were standing and calls for Luke. When Luke turns to him, he gestures him to come over. 

"Look don't get alarmed or act weird but the guy, Maya's uncle, he's here. And he is our pilot for the flight." Niall informs him with calms expressions. 

" WHAT..... where is he..?" hearing that Luke gets furious and starts looking around them. 

"Shhhh...... I told you not to react like this and still you are...." Niall scolds him for it. 

"Sorry...., what do you want me to do?" 

"Just go to Louis, keep him busy and make sure he doesn't get any glimpse of him. We are going to talk to the guy now." Niall says and looks at everyone. 

"Ok.. Yeah." he shakes his head in understanding and heads back to the group. 

"C'mon guys." Niall says to Zayn and Preston and they walk towards the room in which Harry was. 

They were only a few feet away from the door when it opened and Harry walked out of the room. Seeing that and looking back at Louis, Niall panicked and marched to Harry. He grabbed him by his jacket collar and pushed him back into the room, Zayn and Preston following after him and closing the door behind. 

"HEY..... What the hell...., You.....? What are you doing? Let me go. " Harry said struggling with the tight grip of Niall's hand on his uniform, to get himself free. Even though Niall was not as tall as Harry but he had strength to knock anyone out. 

"What am I doing, what are you doing here? Even when you knew that Louis was going to be in that plane, you said yes to the job. How could you ?" he said pushing him back onto the wall with a thump , his grip still tight. 

"I said yes BECAUSE Louis was going to be in that plane." Harry lets out when he finally succeeds to release himself from the strong grip. 

"YOU BASTARD ... Why did you do that?" He shoved him again into the wall. 

"BECAUSE I WANTED TO ASK HIM, Why DID HE DO THAT TO ME ?" Harry was breathing heavily and his eyes were red with anger and frustration on Niall . 

"Why did he do WHAT to you ?" Zayn asked in calm voice, after pulling a fuming Niall back and standing between the two. 

Harry's head and shoulders sagging in defeat when he answered.   
"I want to ask him, why did he left me alone 10 years ago without any explanation? Why did he never looked back after leaving me crying on that alleyway in middle of that night? Why he never answered my calls again ? Why did he left Cheshire without even completing his 12th but only 10th ? Why he never cared about me after that night, like he did for those 10 months? But most importantly why did he never replied to me for those three words I said to him when we last spoke on the phone and even when he promised to give me the reply face to face on the very next day ? WHY ? " he looks up at him with tears in his eyes. 

Zayn was left standing in front of the miserable man without any words. But before he could say something to him Niall comes out from behind him and said to Harry, glaring dagger at him

" Listen to me, I don't care what happened between you and him. But for now, all I care about is him being well and happy. And ever since you came back into his life, all I've seen him doing is crying whenever it comes to you. The day you met him in Foxborough, I saved him from the mess you turn him into and that day in London, the same thing happened again. I swear to God if he gets another panic attack because of you today, I'm going to kill you. No matter if you did anything wrong or not. YOU UNDERSTAND. " he was shoving his point finger at his chest like a knife. 

" W- What...? " Harry looks from Niall to Zayn back and forth with terrified eyes. He never wanted to become the cause of any pain in Louis' life. 

" Just Stay. The. Fuck. Away. From. Him. " Niall pushes his finger further into his chest with each word. 

" W-wait.... What are you talking about?" Harry was beyond worried about Louis because he knew how Louis used to have anxiety attacks when they were together and how vulnerable and fragile Louis gets during and after them. 

" Niall, you go ahead. Preston look after him and Louis both. I'll catch up with you guys in a few minutes. Please. " Zayn understands Harry's distress and pleads to Niall. 

Niall huffs at his friend and walks out of the room grumbling in anger. Preston looks at him and gives him a nod, " Okay, but come soon or they all will start questioning. "

Zayn gives him a reassuring smile and Preston walks out of the room as well. 

As soon as the door shuts behind Preston, Harry comes forward to Zayn and grabs his arm gently to get his attention. He asks him with concern and some unshed tears prominent in his eyes. 

" You're Zayn right, Maya told me about you. "

"Yes." Zayn looks at him surprised at the sudden movement. 

" Can you please tell me, what was he talking about ? What happened in Foxborough and London? Please I'm begging you." his voice was cracking and a tear squeeze down from his eyes. 

"He had panic attacks after meeting you. Both times. First one was really bad." he tells him with a bit of hesitation. 

"What.....?" Harry's eyes and mouth widened and his hand slid down from where he was holding Zayn's arm. 

"Yeah.... and that is why we all are so protective of him. It's really hard to see him like that hurt. Niall was the one who was there with him at the first time and witnessed the worst. That is why he is being possessive. You can't blame him for being rough with you. " he gives him a sad look. 

" Did he - did he tell you guys, why did he had those attacks? I mean what triggered him? " Harry looked down in shame, already guessing the answer. 

" We asked but he never said anything and when we inquired if you were any kind of threat to him, he denied right away quoting that 'you never did anything wrong to him, you can never' .

Listen, I don't know what's the story between you and him but all I'm asking for you is to give him some time. And if you face him again today, maybe he'll get another....... and that we don't want for him. So please try to understand. " he requests him. 

Harry was first surprised to hear that Louis said THAT about him but when he heard Zayn's request, he sighed and rubbed his hand on his face wiping his eyes. " Okay, all right. I'm not going in front of him."

" Thanks......... but what should we do now to avoid you guy's confrontation. " suddenly Zayn remembers about the flight. 

" oh yeah about that.......... Well now I'm going inside the aircraft. So I think you guys can come a while later when you will be called, that is how we won't meet. " Harry looks at his wristwatch. 

" Thank you so much for understanding." Zayn gives him a genuine smile. 

" No, no........ It's all my fault actually that I'm here, being a stalker." Harry shakes his head and chuckles at himself in embarrassment. 

" It's not your fault , it's your heart that brought you here. You know that right. " Zayn looks at him in compassion. 

" Guess so. " he gives him a hopeless look. 

Zayn tries to change his sad mood and stuck his hand out to him, 

"Let's start fresh. I'm Zayn Malik." 

Harry looks from his face to his hand, finally smiles in real while shaking his hand. 

"I'm Harry Styles. It's really very nice to meet you and talk to you." 

Zayn laughs and says, " It's really nice to meet and talk to you as well."

" And I'm really sorry for Niall's behaviour but trust me, he's a really good guy. All of that what he did, because he was concerned about Louis. " 

" It's okay. I can understand where all of his anger was coming from. " he looks down at his fidgeting hand. 

" What do you mean? "

" He a-and Louis...... I....... It's okay. " 

" What..... Oh god No...... What are you thinking........ " and Zayn starts laughing at a confused Harry. 

When he comes down from his laughter, he shakes his head in amusement and says, 

" They are not together, Harry. Niall is straight. "

And just like that Harry's eyes start twinkling in hope but still he clears out his doubts. 

"Is-Is Louis......" he tries to stutter out his question but couldn't. 

"Yes, he is single. " Zayn answers his unasked question, amused. Harry gives him a thankful smile. 

Zayn was about to walk out of the room but turns around, 

"You still love him, don't you?" he asked hopefully.

Harry looks at him and speaks from his heart, smiling. 

"I Love him, is an understatement when it comes to Louis." 

And that was enough for Zayn to clear his own doubts. He nods to him and walks out of the room to his friends with a content smile on his face . He can finally see a flicker of hope in his friend's life. 

 

******************************

 

"And now I'm one step closer to being  
Two steps far from you  
When everybody wants you  
Everybody wants you

How many nights does it take to count the stars?  
That's the time it would take to   
fix my heart  
Oh, baby, I was there for you  
All I ever wanted was the truth, yeah, yeah  
How many nights have you wished someone would stay?  
Lie awake only hoping they're okay  
I have never counted all of mine  
If I tried, I know it would feel like infinity  
Infinity, infinity, yeah  
Infinity"

\- Infinity, One Direction


	7. ILLUSION

(7 October 2016, London Heathrow Airport )  
. 

Harry was walking towards the flight, when he met with Preston again and informed him that he was going to be the only one to fly the plane. He informed him that he has to make at least one in-flight announcement which they need to hide from Louis. Because he was sure that Louis would recognize his voice easily. 

As Harry thought, Preston's face became pale.' How the heck is he going to do that?' Preston thought, but before he could even start panicking, Harry explained him the plan. 

" When the flight attended will be done with her instructions, only after THAT I'm going to make the announcement. And just to give you guys some more time, I'm going to wait for 10 seconds after pressing the notification button and meanwhile you guys will try to distract him, if he wasn't already. "

Preston nods after understanding the situation and gives him a thankful smile, but before he leaves, he threatens Harry as well. 

" Listen kid, I don't know what happened between you and Louis but one thing I know is that, I've never seen that kid in the state like this ever before, since I knew him. So I hope that whatever the reason is behind his broken heart, should better not be you. Because if somehow I find out that you are the one who hurt him then trust me, you would regret the day you were born. 

By the way just to let you know, I like you and I won't like it to hurt you. So.... " Preston pats on his shoulder and walked away without giving him any chance to say something. 

Well now Harry was intimated, GENUINELY. He could handle Niall but Preston was a big guy and he would definitely beat the shit out of him, IF he ever found anything wrong about him and Louis. 

But that was the real thing, he never did anything wrong between the both of them. He never hurt him, he could never. With that thought he climbed up the stairs of the plane and got inside. 

\-----

" Guys, it's time to board the plane." Paul informed everyone walking into the waiting room. It's been almost half an hour since the incidence happened with Niall, Harry and all.

Everyone starts grabbing their things and moving towards the plane, except for Preston. He turns around and looks into 3 specific pairs of eyes to let them know that they should stay back ; Niall, Luke and Zayn. 

When everyone else moved ahead, Niall asked furiously , 

" What now, Preston ? Did that asshole do anything else ? 'Cause if he did, than I'm more than willing to help you to beat him." 

"Shut up, Niall. At least listen to him first. Go ahead Preston, what's the matter?" Zayn strikes on him. 

Preston explains to them everything about what Harry asked them to do on the plane during his in-flight announcement. Niall and Luke were furious that this was all just a plan of him to get close to Louis, when he was already on board, but Zayn retorts that he has a faith in the guy. 

Preston expressed his faith in Harry as well to all of them and assured them that if Harry tried to do something clever in the flight, he would personally attend him when the flight will land in Glasgow. 

Well that was more than enough for everyone. An angry and pissed off Preston was a sight to see, specially when he was beating someone you dislike. 

Louis was slowly making his way into the plane and was climbing up the stairs while excitedly bopping his head to one of the songs from 'Midnight Memories' he was listening to. As soon as he stepped inside the plane his feet halted, his heart skipped a beat and started to thump really fast. His eyes opening to the sudden feeling in shock. 

Harry was checking everything in the cockpit and was going through some of the report charts, when his breath hitched and his fingers stopped moving on to the page he was. His heart started to beat rapidly and a smile suddenly appeared on his lips. 

" Lou ... He's here." 

Louis was still standing in the same spot, next to the aircraft's door, when Calum bumped into him, 

" Oi... Move Tommo." and he pushed him forward. But as usually Louis would react with a snappy comment or his sass, he did not say anything but stood still where he was pushed by Calum's hand. 

" Hey, Lou you okay mate...?" he asked after removing Louis' headphones and shaking his hand in front of his expressionless face. 

" Huh... W-what...?" finally he came out of his daze. 

" What the heck... Are you okay..? You sleepy or something like that..?" he asked . 

" What, no.... I'm perfectly fine. " he tried to avoid him and starts walking towards his seat in the back. 

" Your face... It's so pale. It seems like you have seen some kind of ghost or something like that and you were standing like a statue back at the entry door. So..... Are you seriously okay...?" Calum explained sitting on his seat. 

" I'm good. It's just..... Never mind. " he doesn't want to sound like an idiot to tell him that he felt some kind of strange gravity in his heart . Maybe it was just some kind of ILLUSION of his imagination. 

He was going through his twitter, when Niall sits on the seat next to his. Louis looks at him and gives him a smile before going back to his phone. 

" Watcha doin Tommo...?" Niall said, nudging Louis' side to get his attention. Louis looked up at him in confusion at his odd behaviour. 

" OK. But what did you eat....?" 

" Shut up, you dick. I'm just trying to make a conversation." he shoved him in the seat as both of them chuckled. 

" Sorry dude but you're not my type, better try on Calum. HEY CALUM NIALL WANTS TO ASK YOU IF YOU WANT TO GO OUT ON A DATE WITH HIM. " he said out loud to Calum, who was sitting a few seats ahead of them, and started laughing when Niall started punching him. 

" SORRY MATE YOU'RE NOT MY TYPE, BETTER TRY MICHAEL. HEY MICH...... " before he could complete his sentence, Niall screams, 

" SHUT THE FUCK UP GUYS. I hate you all so much. And most importantly this piece of asswipe." he gestures to Louis and everyone roared in laughter. 

Niall huffs and plop down on the seat again, crossing his arms, looking hurt. Louis shakes his head in fond over his friend's adorable pouting face as he climbs up on his lap without asking, startling him. 

" Get off." Niall grumbles looking away with fake angry face . 

" Come on..... Ni. I'm sorrryyyy......" Louis says and grabs his cheeks to make him look at him. 

" You're not forgiven." he says closing his eyes, refusing to look at him. 

" OK. I promise I won't do it again but please talk to me. I will do anything to make you forgive me. Please.... Preety please.... My favourite Leprechaun." he makes that famous puppy face. 

Niall looks at him opening his sparkling blue eyes with a speck of gold in it, and gives him a stern look, " You will do anything to get my forgiveness....? "

" mhmm. " Louis nodded his head immediately with big eyes, smiling like a cheshire cat. 

" Then get off me." he said and pushed his face back, with a hint of smile. 

" What.... I thought you were going to forgive me..? " he asked looking sad . 

" Yes I did. But I'm asking you to get off because the seat belt sign is on now and the plane is about to go on the runway ; you need to buckle up. Then I'll tell you what to do." he gestures to the seat belt sign above them, as he explains. 

" Oh yeah. Sorry about that. " he scrambles off of him to his seat but not before giving him a kiss on his cheek. Niall rolled his eyes and started smiling. 

As soon as he buckled up, he turned to Niall and said, 

" Okay I'm done. Now tell me, what you want me to do ? " he asked excited hoping for his forgiveness. 

" Throughout the flight you're going to listen to the songs of my choice. No ifs, no buts. One denial and we're done. And that starts from now, here." Niall didn't even gave him a chance to object before he shoved his iPod in his hands. 

" ummmm okay. But would you listen to them with me as well...? I mean it would be odd if I will be listening to the songs and you will be sitting alone. " he offered. 

" Alright." Niall gave him a smile and mentally praised himself to making Louis distract from listening to Harry's in-flight announcement. 

Both of them put their headphones on and first song starts to play. Niall looks ahead to the front and find Preston, Luke and Zayn looking at him curiously. He gave them a nod to let them know that he got everything under control, and they all takes a breath of relief. 

After 5 minutes, hostess starts making in-flight announcement. But when it comes to Harry to make the announcement, he nervously pushed the notification button and waited for a while before he started speaking. 

Louis was listening to some loud rock music when a chill runs down his spine, leaving goosebumps all over his body. His body stills again getting the same feeling as he had before, when he entered the plane. His heart started to pound in his ribcage. 

But only after a minute or two it all stopped suddenly and left him out of breath. He ripped off his headphones and pushed the the button above him to let the hostess know that he was in need of something. 

Niall's eyes widened at his sudden action, but he wasn't worried about Louis listening to Harry's announcement. Niall wasn't listening to the songs properly as he was not wearing one of his earpiece, just to make sure Louis doesn't hear anything. He looks at Louis and asks worried. 

" Hey, what's wrong...?" 

" Nothing. I j-just want some water. My throat feels a bit dry." he gives him a fake smile to cover up his nervousness. Niall nods to him, he knew that Louis wasn't feeling well but didn't pushed him to tell him the reason. Because he understood, Louis wasn't going to tell him. 

After downing a glass of water, he felt better. And both of them again started to listen to the songs, but this time Niall played soft and soothing song instead of loud rock, as he knew, now there was no problem. 

Rest of the flight went smoothly without any inconvenience and they landed safely in Glasgow. As the flight door opened, everyone stepped out of it quickly as they were running late. Louis and Niall were last to get off as they were seated at the end of the plane. 

When Louis picked up his stuff and started moving towards the door, Niall followed right behind. 

Harry knew that everyone was off the plane and that's why he opened the cockpit door without hesitation but shut it close immediately as he saw Louis making his way towards the door. His heart started to yearn again to see him and talk to him, but he controls himself. 

Even though he was trying really hard to not to do something stupid, his hand twisted the doorknob and he opened the door only an inch apart to peek. 

He saw Louis struggling with his stuff to hold together and Niall offering him a help to carry some of his things. Louis gave Niall a thankful smile as he walks towards the door and steps down from the aircraft. 

Harry was so engrossed in looking at Louis that he completely forgot about the fact that Niall was still in the plane. And when someone cleared their throat, that's when he realized that someone was narrowing their eyes on him. 

Harry turned to find who the person was and found himself looking straight into twinkling blue eyes. But suddenly they weren't looking as beautiful as before, when he realized that they were filled with anger. He gulped nervously when Niall stepped up to him. But before he could say or do something, Louis called his name . 

" Whatcha waiting for Nialler, c'mon ?" Louis couldn't see Harry as he was still in the cockpit. 

" I'm coming, you go ahead. I think I forgot something." his eyes softening in a flash as he said to Louis with smile. Louis just shrugged his shoulders and walked away. Niall turned to Harry with same expressions as before. 

" Harry Styles, ....... listen to me really very clearly and carve these words in your memory, 'cause I'm not going to repeat them again." he said and advanced to him a bit more and opens up the door completely, until he was standing only a feet away from him. 

" If I ever find out that you hurt Louis in any way in the past or planning to do in upcoming future, I swear to God that no body and I mean it, not even Louis can stop me from ripping your guts out of your body. 

This is not a warning, I'm legitimately threatening you to stay away from him." he said through gritted teeth. His eyes were like daggers to Harry. 

He turned around and was about to step down from the plane but turned back to him. 

" Don't ever come near him. Get that. " he warned pointing a sharp finger at him and stepped down from the craft without listening to him. 

It was like someone just punched the air out of his lungs, when he sat down on his seat in cockpit, to regain his strength. In his entire life, he never felt this much intimidated by someone. Maybe the guy wasn't that much huge or buff, but his words and that gruff voice was enough to make anyone shit their pants. 

Harry suddenly started to feel hopeless about getting Louis back into his life. Yes, he was hoping and wishing that Louis will come back to him again. Even though he didn't knew, what he did wrong to him, he was ready to say sorry. 

He loved the guy with all his heart and never did he ever felt the need to forget him, he was always in his heart. But he was determined to win his heart again, IF he somehow get to lose it before. 

Maybe they'll be able to live the life together, he always imagined. 

\---------------

( 9 Oct 2016, Birmingham) 

 

Harry has just entered the grocery store and was browsing the items, as he wasn't planning to shop around but something to eat before he drove to his hotel room . He was going through the snacks aisle when he heard someone. And the voice gave him a sudden tug in his heart. He started walking as following the voice and all of a sudden his steps stopped. 

His eyes started to prickle with happy tears and a fond smile appeared on his face. There was standing the boy he adores with his heart and soul. 

Louis was going through the breakfast aisle as he was grumbling something under his breath, in annoyance. His face was creasing in distaste, seemed to be a good interpretation that he wasn't here on his own decision.

" Why do I have to do the shit grocery shopping today. Why the fuck not Preston could get the things for my turn again. I hate you Liam, I hate you so much.

' If you didn't get back to the hotel with every single thing in the list, you won't be aloud to have dinner.' " he mimics the lines in Liam's voice with making funny faces and continued, 

" It's like I'm some kind of child who gets scolding and punishment if I won't get my shit together. I swear to God I'm going to put lots of glue in his hoody this time, that he has to shave his head completely off.

Urrrgggghhhhh where are the damn froot loops and my coco puffs. " he checks all of the four aisles in front of his sight but he couldn't find the cereals he was looking for. As he was about to give up and hopelessly looked up to curse more, his eyes catches something. Froot Loops and Coco Puffs. " Bingo" he says and tip toes to get the cereals from the top shelf and smiles in satisfaction. 

Harry was secretly peeking at him, from where he was hiding behind an aisle. He was covering his mouth to muffle the chuckle he was producing as he was enjoying the little show called 'Annoyed Louis Tomlinson '. His eyes were wet and the tears were constantly squeezing out of his eyes, doesn't matter how many times he wiped them. 

He wasn't sad, but he was the happiest in the time being. It's been a decade since he saw him acting like this cutely annoyed. It was the same as he used to do when someone makes him to do something that he hated . Most of the time Harry himself was the one to make him do something like this, just to see this kind of Louis. His heart was in a puddle of emotions. 

Louis was going to move towards another aisle to achieve another goal but a voice stopped him. 

" Excuse me, Mr. Could help me to get one of those Coco Puffs too." a little boy maybe 10 or 11 years old asked sweetly. Louis turned around to him and gave him a sweet smile. 

" Off course, Love ." and he picked up the box and gave it to him. But when he looked at his face, Louis' eyebrows arched in confusion to see his flabbergasted expression. 

The boy's eyes were wide open and his mouth was gaping like a fish out of water. His shocking face was looking really funny but what caught his attention was his beautiful emerald eyes, identical to someone special. 

" You okay there ...?" Louis chuckled at his cuteness. 

The boy did not say anything but he nodded his head a few times, his eyes and mouth still open wide. 

Louis kneel down to his eye level and sat his grocery basket beside him ; boy's eyes following his every movements. 

Louis puts his point finger under the boy's chin and pushed it up to close his mouth.   
" Then you should close your mouth before a fly could makes it their home." and he laughs a bit when the little boy blushed pink and looked down in embarrassment. 

" Hi, I'm Louis Tomlinson. Nice to meet you, Mr........" Louis tried to make his little embarrassed face, bright again and struck out his hand to him. 

" W-William Miller. A-and I know who you a-are. A-actually I-I'm a big fan of yours." he shook Louis' hand with his trembling one. 

" Nice name you got their, seems like I heard somewhere. And you like One Direction, that's great isn't it...? " he asked amused. 

Harry was still hiding behind the aisle, watching their interaction interestingly, he wasn't crying anymore. 

" Mhmmm. I fucking love every single song of One Direction. " he said excitedly clapping his hands together, but his eyes widened when he realized that he said the 'F' word out loud ; as does Louis'. 

" Where did you learn that from...?" Louis asked shocked in a little scolding tone. 

" S-sorry. I won't say it again. I promise." he apologized sheepishly. 

" That's not a good thing to say, you know that right." 

" I know... But you say it also sometimes. I heard you twice. " he innocently retort and tried to cope from the scolding from his idol. 

Louis looks down in embarrassment and grumbled to himself. 

"I need to stop behaving like a stupid dickhead in front of audience from now on." 

William started giggling after hearing that and said, 

" And now you just said the 'D' word in front of a kid. Good going Tommo." 

Louis looks up at him his eyes widened in surprise and he chuckled. 

" Stop acting like Payno. I've already got one and that's enough for this lifetime." and both of them started laughing out loud. 

Louis stood up straight on his feet and William helped him with his basket. 

" Thanks man. By the way, where are you from ? Your accent doesn't seem to be from here, it's quite familiar with mine ?" 

" I'm from Donny as well but I live in London. I came here with my family for a short trip." he explained happily. 

Hearing that Louis' face light up like a Christmas tree and he high five with the boy. 

" That's awesome mate. Hey, you coming to the show tomorrow or others...? " he was excited about the kid. 

" uuuu sorry but my parents couldn't get the tickets. The tickets sold out as soon as the booking started. So......" he trailed off pouting in disappointment. 

" Oh..... Well I don't have any giveaway tickets with me as well." he pouted as well. He thought about it for a while and as he got an idea, he gave the most charming yet somehow creepy smile to William and the boy looked at him like he was crazy. 

" I've got an idea but you have to agree with me on something, can you that for us to meet again....? " he really was excited. 

" uuuu okay." he was a bit confused and suspicious, but who cares when Louis Fucking Tomlinson was offering you to come to one of One Direction concert. 

" I can arrange tickets for you and plus one for tomorrow's show, so you have to give me one of your parent's number. I will talk to them about the tickets and by the way they will be free. But what I'm asking for you is that to never disclose my number to anyone else, when I call you okay. You can keep it to yourself but no one else. Promise ? " and he raised his eyebrows in question. 

William's face lights up with happiness and he eagerly nodded to him. But then he asked looking confused. 

" But why do you want me to give your number ? I mean you can call my parents from anywhere. "

" I trust you, but most importantly because I like you and your from Donny so that's a plus one. Whenever I'll be in London, I would like to meet up with you again and we'll hang around and all. But you have to promise that you will never tell anyone about my number or other personal information that I will ask you to not to. " he says smiling. 

" I promise." they both shake their hands. 

Harry was smiling like a fool, witnessing all of that in front of his eyes. Maybe he would never get a chance to see him like this again, so that is why each moment of that was like a treasure to him. 

He was watching them exchanging numbers as a woman came to them and said 'Hi' , but before he could hear what they were saying, his phone started ringing and turned around quickly to hide completely. 

It was from airport, about his flight schedule next day, so he had to answer it. After talking on the phone for almost five minutes, when he turned around to peek again at them, they weren't there any more. 

Harry's face fell in defeat as he couldn't find Louis anywhere in the store. He gave up on his search and start shopping what he could thought of. 

After shopping for a few minutes and picking up a few snacks and some juice bottles, he made a bee line to the check out counter. As he stood behind a man, someone from ahead of the line, turned around to walk out as their bill was done. 

Harry couldn't react fast enough to hide his face, when he recognized who the person was. So when he looked up, he breathed out in nervousness, because that person saw him already and suddenly he was standing frozen 4 ft away from Harry. 

Louis. 

 

[ A/N : William Miller is going to play a really important role in this story, to bring these two back together. Now it's your turn to guess, how ? 

 

******************************

 

"No baby this is not an illusion  
I really got my heart out on  
my sleeve  
Oh baby this is not an illusion  
There's magic between you and me  
No baby this is not an illusion  
You really got me lifted off my feet  
So tell me you believe in love  
'Cause it's not an illusion to me

So tell me you believe in love  
'Cause it's not an illusion... "

\- Illusion by One Direction


	8. "Future Boyfriend ."

(9 October 2016, Birmingham) 

Louis looks at the beautiful face , that was once his source of happiness, but now only cause him to feel angst, pain and suffering but most importantly, guilt inside his heart.

All of the thoughts suddenly started to accelerating inside his head. He wanted them to slow so he can breathe but they won't. His breaths come in gasps and he feel like he will black out. 

" I'm sorry." Harry says looking down, not even daring to look at him. He doesn't even know why he was apologising , was it because he accidentally met him there or was it because of the unknown reason he caused to make Louis leave him like that. He was clueless. 

Hearing his voice, Louis' heart started hammering inside his chest like it belongs to a rabbit running for its skin. Everything around him starts spinning and he tries pull himself together as to make everything slow to something his brain and body can cope with. He feel so sick.

Not a single word uttered from his lips but heavy breathing, as Louis skedaddled from there. 

Harry's eyes following his steps and looks him disappearing from his sight and out of the grocery store to get lost into the huge building of the shopping centre. He closed his eyes and as trails of warm, salty liquid rolled down from his eyes and dropped onto the fabric of his blue shirt. 

All the beautiful time he experienced a few minutes ago, crashed down into million pieces in front of his eyes as his hope shattered as well. 

He wiped his eyes and moved forward, when his turn comes at the checkout counter.

\-----

Louis was sitting on a chair in far behind corner of the food court, hunched down. His face in his hands as he was trying to control his emotions. 

Louis felt the panic begin like a cluster of spark plugs in his abdomen, tension grew in his face and limbs. His mind replaying the last attack and when he realized that he was alone now and no one was there to help him, the attack starts to feel stronger. His breathing became more rapid, more shallow. In these moments before his personal hurricane, he understood the need of someone beside him. 

Louis decided to call someone, anyone to pick him up from there and make him feel safe but his eyes widened when he realizes that he left his phone back at the hotel, his panic grew in a flash. In seconds he was curled tight in his seat, his only movement the trembling of his limbs and salty tears darkening his sleeves. 

Harry was exiting the shopping centre when he saw him. His eyes widened in horror when he realized, what was happening. Louis was having a panic attack, that HE caused. 

All he wanted to do was to go to him and hug him to help him through with the pain he was baring right now. But that wasn't possible and wasn't even a good idea as it could increase his panic more. He looks around for someone, anyone who can help him, and he found a woman, maybe in her early 50's, looking at Louis' suspicious behaviour with curious yet soft eyes. 

He advanced to the woman and asks, 

" Excuse me, Mam could you please help me with something ? It's really important. Please." he begged. 

The woman flinched at the sudden voice and turned her head to him. She looked at him suspiciously but still talked to him hesitantly, when she realized that he was just in need of help. 

" uh okay, what do you need me to help you with ?" 

Harry beams at that and thanked her for a few times before he says, 

" Would you please go to the guy sitting over there and give him this water ? Seems to me that he's experiencing a panic attack and I don't see any water near him, so could you please...." he gestured to Louis and offered one of the water bottles he bought for himself. 

His eyes begging to the point where anyone could tell that he was genuinely worried about the guy and would cry any minute now, If someone doesn't help him out. 

" Yeah I can see that, he's having some problems with breathing, but why not you go to him and give him the water ? Seems like you know him, as you could tell that he is having a panic attack." She asked him in confusion. 

He looks down in hesitation, " I - we..... We are not on talking terms. So could you please, just please help him." he looks up at her and puts his hand together, clutching the bottle between them, as in request. His vision blurred because of the tears suddenly gathered in his eyes. 

The woman looks at him for a moment in awe and nods her head as she takes the bottle from his hands. 

" Thank you so much, really. But could you please don't tell him that I asked you to do this. Please. I just don........" the nice lady stops him before he could start rambling and put her hand on his shoulder. 

" Relax son, I understand that you don't want him to know about this and it's okay. Now I should go to him. " she patted his shoulder and walked away to where Louis was still struggling to find some kind of relief. 

Harry breaths out in content and hides behind a pillar out of their sights. He was really nervous and worried about his Love, after seeing him in this state after years. If it was to happen before, Louis wouldn't have been sitting there alone, but Harry was cradling him into his arms and rocking him back and forth until he feels better, with uncountable soft and sweet words been spoken into his ears and kisses been placed in his hair. 

But that was the curse of the situation, it wasn't in the past and they weren't friends anymore. 

..... 

Louis was now sitting with his legs bent up on a bench as he was hugging them close to his chest tightly and his face hidden in his knees. His whole body was quavering visibly. He was trying to follow everything that he learned from internet and the boys told him to do, if he was in a situation like this. 

He was trying to take slow, deep and controlled breaths, inhaling through nose and exhaling them through his pursed lips. He was trying to count the numbers in his mind for the distraction, as he was also trying to picture all the happy times he had spent with the boys. But nothing was working for him. 

He may have tried to thought about his family and specially his mother to help his mind to get relaxed but it was causing him more pain as he started to yearn for her comfort. 

His breathing, body, mind, emotions and literally everything started to speed up, as he could feel himself getting out of control. Deliberately reversing the process of being calm. His body was realising the amount of adrenaline that he could kill a person with his bare hands. His body was hosting an alarming sensation, a fear of getting attacked by someone, anyone, as his heart was pounding in distress. He was having difficulty, thinking straight and was feeling like he could be hurt at any moment now. 

As he was in his fit of terror, when someone touched his shoulder, he flinched back aggressively and put both of his hands in front of his face, to both protect and defend himself. His face flushed crimson and red eyes, wide and filled with hot tears, horror and sadness within them visible. Lips trembling as he tries to speak something but couldn't, and a tear rolled down his eyes. 

" Hey, hey.... It's okay. No need to worry ....... Can I sit here with you, for a while...IF It's all alright with you? " the woman asked carefully as she took her hand back. 

Louis looked at her in confusion and wiped his cheek on his shoulder. He was now a bit relaxed after seeing that it was just a woman, not any threat. He was still worked up in his frightening condition, but the need of being near to someone instead of going through the pain alone, took over his mind and he slowly nodded to her. But again he hid his face back between his arms, where they were before. 

" Do you want some water...? I think it'll help you. " she said really sweetly in a soft voice, giving him a smile. 

He looked up at her face for a moment to rethink, if he wanted her to be there or not. She seemed harmless. He looked at the water bottle in her hand, which reminded him of how much dry his throat was suddenly . 

He gives her a timid nod and unfolds his arms around his legs. He was still looking down, avoiding any eye contact with her, while with shaky hands he took the water bottle from her hand and whispered a little 'thanks' to her. The woman visibly relaxed when he drank a few gulps from the bottle.

She looks behind Louis, to where Harry was hiding behind a pillar, peeking at them, and gave him a smile, which Harry replied with a smile as well. Even though she was a bit far away from him but she could see him wiping his tears. 

"T-thanks" Louis said a bit loud this time and brought her attention back to him. The woman smiled at him and said. 

" Is it your first time on your own...?" the hesitation was clear in her voice. 

Louis tilts his head in confusion over the question and the woman explains, 

" Your ermm panic attack. Is it your first time ? Don't get me wrong but it seems like you are not holding up easily . " she asked looking a bit worried. 

Louis understands and looks down in shame as a few tear seeped from his eyes again. 

" Hey please don't cry, Love. I know you're not in a condition to talk about it more, so I'm not going to ask you either. "

No reaction. 

" Do you need a hug or maybe some company, until you feel better....?" now that she saw his condition, she wasn't going to leave him there like that looking miserable, he was just like his son. 

Louis doesn't reacts for few seconds but then he murmurs softly still looking down . 

"Why are you helping me...?" he was really confused and equally curious, why this stranger was trying to help him. 

" Because I have a son who also sometimes goes through, what you are feeling right now. And I know how frighten a person gets when they are alone in a situation like this. So please Love, let me help you, 'cause I'm not going anywhere until you let me help you or you get better on your own. 

By the way, I'm Charlie. "

This time he looks at her with the same curiosity as before, but when he couldn't detect any kind of uncertainty, his bottom lip started to wobbles as he nods his head rapidly to her, in yearn of any kind of comfort or compassion. 

" Oh ! Sweetie come here." Charlie wrapped her arms around his body and enveloped him in her warm embrace instantly . 

As soon as he felt the warmth of her hold, his eyes again started showering the tears he was trying to control. His hands grasping Charlie's arms, shoulders shaking and the sound of struggling to breathe against the crying was loud enough to hear. 

A muffled sob left Harry's lips as he perceived what was happening ; Louis was crying and he was the reason for it. But what hurt him the most that he wasn't even able to help him. Maybe that's what being cursed feels like. His heart breaks into million pieces, each and every time he realizes that Louis cried because of him. 

He still kept observing the way that sweet lady was holding him close and helping him through his pain out, and he was really thankful for her. 

\------

Louis and Charlie stayed there, unaware of the passing time, until he found the feelings had passed. Opening his eyes to the soft light, he realized that he was still in her embrace. He slowly lifted his head from her shoulder and looked up at her, after pulling back from the hug. His eyes tiered and painfully red ; it was obvious after that much of crying. 

" Thank you." Louis whispered in a soft voice but the emotions were there to let her know how thankful he was. 

Charlie looked at her smiling and brushed some of his hair to the side from his face,

"No problem Love, but how are you feeling now, are you any better ...?" she asked in a sweet voice. 

" Y-yeah, I'm feeling much better now, all thanks to you." Louis blinked his heavy eyelids a few times and tried to give her a small smile. 

" Stop thanking me, I'm happy that you are feeling better......." She put her hand on his cheek and stroked the one stray tear that fell rolled down. 

" No, please. Thank you so much for this, In fact I can never thank you enough for what you have done for me today . You don't know how scared I was.? I've never been alone during any of these...... But you.......... You saved me from the amount of pain and humiliation that I could have faced if I was alone, I can never imagine. " he gave her a watery smile as his eyes welled up again, but this time not in pain or horror. 

" Oh Love, you really are a sweet boy. And it was nothing, I just treated you like I would have treated my own, if I found him in the condition. So don't thank me. " she wiped his cheeks as more tears fell down. 

" You're an angel for me." he said truthful, "Can I ask you about something, if you don't mind..? " he was curious about something. 

" Sure, Anything. "

" How did you know that I was having a......"

" oh.... Actually I came here to pick up my daughter and her son. When I was going inside the grocery store, I saw you coming out of there in a rush with wobbly steps . And I don't know why but I feel like, you weren't feeling well, as your face was pale and you were breathing unevenly really fast. 

I happened to witness my son once in a condition exactly like that, when one day he came home after an incident happened in his college, which triggered him. 

So that's what made feel concerned about you. I followed you and found you here sitting like that. I was bit hesitant about if I should go to you or not, and then.... " she stopped talking before she could slip the secret away out of her mouth. 

" Then what.... " he asked. 

" Then maybe an angel or maybe YOUR guardian angel, helped me to make the decision and I went up to you. "   
Louis looks at her in suspicion and tried to ask her about that but Charlie spoke again and changed the topic. 

" By the way, may I know the name of the beautiful boy sitting in front of me...?" 

" oh, s-sorry, I'm Louis Tomlinson, Mam. " he finally gave her a genuine smile and blushed a bit, realizing that he was still to introduce himself. 

" Call me Charlie. And now tell me again, are you feeling good now..? "

" Yeah - yeah. I'm feeling absolutely fine now." maybe he wasn't ABSOLUTELY fine, but he wasn't going to tell her that. 

" I can tell that you are not ABSOLUTELY fine but still..... " she commented playfully. 

Louis chuckled at her reply, " I'm fine now Charlie. And thanks again for the help. I think YOU are my guardian angel. " he stated what really was in his heart. 

" No love, that's someone else. " Charlie said spontaneously, laughing but stopped when she saw his confused face. 

" What...? "

" What ? " she tried to act clueless. 

" You said..... " Louis tried to say what she said before, but he got interrupted by Charlie's phone, which started to ring. 

" Yes, sweetie. ......... No I'm here. ...... Yeah I'll see you in a bit. " she answered the call, thanking her daughter internally for calling her and stopping Louis from asking her anything else about it. 

" I'm so sorry, you are late because of me. I should have said no to you and then maybe..... " His eyes widened in realization that he held Charlie back from picking up her daughter. As he started rambling his apologies, but couldn't complete as Charlie stopped her. 

" Stop thanking and stop apologizing to me. You did not cause me any kind of problems. My daughter asked me if I was here because she just finished shopping. And I came earlier because I got off from work early. So there is that, no need to get stressed out okey. But now I have to go, but if you still need me, I can stay with you and drop you off at your home as well . " she asked felling a bit concerned about his health. 

" No, no I'll be okay. I'll just get a cab and yeah. You go get to your family. But can I ask you for something...? "

" Go ahead. "

" Would you mind giving me, your number. I mean, as I told you earlier when you asked why I didn't call anyone, I left my phone at my place. So could you give me your number and I'll give you mine as well. It's just that, I want to keep in touch with such a beautiful person like you, inside and out. So..... Would you..? " he was a bit nervous about asking a complete stranger for her number, but his intentions were good. 

Charlie shakes her head at his nervous behaviour, smiling and took out a pen and a paper from her purse. She wrote her number on in and and gave it to him. Then she offered him, her mobile so he could type in his number. 

" Thank you once again and for the last time today. And I'll give you a call when I'll get back to my place. " he said after giving the phone back to her. 

" Sure love. And do you want to use my phone to call someone to pick you up. I mean, I don't think it's okay to be alone, still even after..... " she offered. 

" No, it's okay. I'm just going to get a cab but first I need to wash my face. I'm sure I'm looking like a clown right now. " he jokes and ran his hand through his hair to push his fringes behind a bit. 

" Absolutely not, but yes, you do need to fix your hair . So you go and do that. " after that they both hugged good byes to each other and walked away. 

Louis didn't tell her about being in One Direction, but he did not hide it as well. The topic never came up when Charlie was talking to him to distract his mind from the panic attack. But once he'll get back to hotel, he's going to call her and explain her everything. 

\------

Harry was waiting for Louis to walk from the sight so he could thank the sweet lady for the help. As soon as he saw Louis walking towards the washroom and Charlie approaching to where he was standing , he waved his hand to get her attention. Charlie gave him a smile and walked up to him. 

" Thank you so much. I - I can't even explain how thankful I am right now for you....... " Harry starts blabbering as soon as Charlie reaches next to his side. She rolls her eyes and held up her hand to make him stop talking. She was still smiling. 

" Alright - alright that's enough of you two thanking me. You're boyfriend already did that tons of times, now you don't start as well." she scolded him playfully. 

" uuuuu he-he's not my boyfriend. " he stopped talking but his eyes widened at her statement. 

" Tell that to someone who can't see it in your eyes. " Charlie smirkes at him and folds her hands in a challenging way. 

" It's true Mam, we're not t-together. " he looks down feeling emotional. 

" you're not together or you're not together ANYMORE ...? " Charlie questioned arching up an eyebrow. 

Harry doesn't answer her question, so she says sternly. 

" Don't lie to me son. I saw you crying, when he was crying in my arms. And not just anyone cries for their friends like that ." 

"anymore." Harry breaths out still looking down. 

she nods her head and smiles at herself. "that's what I thought. ....... I'm Charlie Schneider." she offers him a handshake. 

Harry looks up at her and wipes his eyes with one hand as shakes her hand with another, "Harry Styles. It's really a pleasure to meet you, Charlie. " 

" Listen Harry, Louis is a really good person as far as I can tell, and as I have observed your concern about him, you care for his well being really much. So I hope you two get back together really soon. " she says to him while rubbing his arm in compassion. 

Harry gives her a hopeful smile, " I hope so too. "

" Alright, my work here is done. Now I'm going to check on my daughter and YOU need to check on your FUTURE BOYFRIEND . Even though he says, he's okay but still, he is in a vulnerable condition. So please look after him until he gets back home. He just went to the washroom to wash his face. " 

" Thanks and I promise that I will ; until my last breath. " he promises her with his heart. 

" That's like a good guy. " she pats his cheek. 

" Charlie, can I have your...... " before he could complete his sentence, Charlie beat him to it. 

" Number..? " she said smiling big. 

" y-yeah but how did you know that I was going to ask for your number...? " he was confused and curious equally. 

" It's because, Louis did. You two are quite alike in some ways. " she explained, winking at him. 

Harry looks down and scratches his head, smiling, his face turns pink without a reason. He shyly hands over his phone to Charlie and after she saves her number in it and giving herself a call, when Harry asks her to, she gives him his phone back. 

Harry thanks her again for the last time and both of them started to walk away from there to get to their people. 

But the little did they know that Louis saw Harry and Charlie talking and he also noticed that Harry was holding the same bottle as one Charlie gave him earlier. He remembered the specific line which Charlie said to him

'Then maybe an angel or maybe YOUR guardian angel, helped me to make the decision and I went up to you.' 

and he started connecting the dots. That's when he realized, what happened. Harry send her to him, to help him. HE was the guardian angel, Charlie was talking about...... "Harry" he breaths out the word quietly. 

He wiped his cheek when he felt a tear rolled down to his neck. 

'What.., why am I crying...?' he thought to himself. 

'It's because you know that he still loves you and you are pushing him away.' his heart answers. 

' I can't give him what he doesn't deserves. He deserves the best and I'm not. You know that very well.' he argues. 

' What happened was not your fault, it was never, not once. Please give him AND yourself a second chance.'

' I can't, I'm not strong enough to go through the pain anymore. And I know that if something happens and he leaves me alone in the future, I'll be destroyed completely. '

' You know he will never do th....... '

' Enough.' 

He shook his head to clear his thoughts and walked outside without giving a look at their way. 

" Oh my God, he's here guys...." Louis heard someone screaming a few feet away from him and within a few seconds he got surrounded by 20 to 30 teenage boys and girls, out side of the shopping center. 

At first he was confused about how they all knew that he was there but when he remembered that the boy at the checkout counter asked for a selfie with him really excitedly. He was sure that he wasn't going to get mobbed like this only after giving a selfie to someone. 

He never thought that fans would even care for him being there. But it was happening and to prove that, he was struck between a bit excited mob, he was struggling to even stand still. Now he was regretting to deny Charlie's offer to call someone, heck he was even cursing at his stupidity of walking out of his hotel without his phone or any security. Still he was trying his best to give each fan a smile and sign their things or take a selfie with them. 

But somehow his mind snapped out of his happy moments, when someone tried to touch him inappropriately in his lower region. His heartbeat started to raise again as his breathing became faster when someone again tried to touch his croch. 

He could still hear the people around him screaming about how much they love his drumming, his voice, his eyes or even his tush but he was unable to concentrate on anything. His face become pale as his feet started to give up on him. 

\--------

Harry started following Louis, when he saw him walking out of the shopping centre. But he stopped and hid behind a wall 10 to 15 feet away from where Louis was, when he saw him get surrounded by people. He felt a bit protective about his condition but when he saw him smiling and interacting with all of the fans, his face brighten up in proud. 

He was still observing his actions closely when he realized that sudden change in Louis' behaviour and with in few seconds the color from Louis' face tuning into pale white. He never acted this fast as he started walking towards the crowd. 

He pushed through the crowd to cut his way to the person his eyes were stuck on, as soon as possible without hurting anyone in his way. The moment he stopped next to Louis, he could hear his heavy breathing. Without giving it a thought and wasting his time, he held him by shoulder and turned him around. 

" NO..., d-don't touch me please." Louis exclaimed and shut his eyes in agony. He wrapped his arms around himself protectively. 

" Louis, it's me. Open your eyes." Harry said holding him by his arms. 

Louis' breath hitched as he heard his voice, he slowly opened his eyes and looked at him with watery eyes. " H-Harry." he whispered. 

" I'm going to take you away from here safely okay." he assured him looking into his eyes. Louis just nodded his head, finally feeling safe. 

Harry held him close to his side and started making his way out of the crowd, when someone exclaimed from the crowd, " Hey what are you doing, don't take him away...?" Harry avoided it. But when someone screamed , 

" Who the fuck do you think you are...?"

he replied in anger because Louis flinched at the voice being too loud. 

" I'm his bodyguard and I'm taking him back to their hotel. So it would be really nice, if you all will give us some space to walk out of here." 

but before they could take another step ahead , someone tried to grab at Louis' back and caused him to jump forward at the sudden touch on his butt.

" NO , PLEASE DON'T, NO . " he exclaimed again in a heartbreaking cry as his legs gave up on him completely and he started to fall down. But before he could lose control over his body, Harry held him up against his own and his voice boomed in anger. 

" ENOUGH." 

and all of the people in the crowd stopped moving and screaming, stood still with their eyes wide open. 

"Don't come near him again, or I won't hesitate to punch any of you to protect him." he said in husky and deep voice, looking at everyone around them in the eye. 

Louis was standing safe, inside his tight and strong arms as his face nuzzled into his warm chest, with the help of Harry holding him still obviously. 

When no one makes a movement or says anything, he pulls away Louis from his chest and picks him up in bridle style, before walking his way out of the crowd. No one dared to stay in his way after that, as they all scrambled off in front of him. 

Harry put Louis down on his feet when he reached to his car. He kept his grip firm yet gentle on Louis as he unlocked the car and opened the door to the passenger side. Louis' breathing was uneven and seemed to be even worse than before, his body immobile in Harry's arms. 

Harry slowly, steadily and carefully settled him inside the car on his seat. He looks at his face and his heart churned when he saw his crying eyes and his attempts to breath normally. He slowly took the seat belt and stretched his hand to buckle him up. Once he was sure that Louis was settled in his seat safely, he closed the door and with quick steps he walked to the other side of the car and get inside. 

He shut the door close quietly and fixed his seat belt before looking at Louis once more. He started the car and breathed out to control his own emotions and then he drove away from there, thinking what's going to happen next after this. 

******************************

 

"Oh, why can't you hold me in the street?  
Why can't I kiss you on the dance floor?  
I wish that it could be like that  
Why can't it be like that?  
'Cause I'm yours

Why can't I say that I'm in love?  
I wanna shout it from the rooftop  
I wish that it could be like that  
Why can't we be like that?  
'Cause I'm yours

Why can't we be like that?  
Wish we could be like that "

Secret Love Song by Little Mix


	9. "Hold My Hand."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> WARNING : Attempt to sexual abuse. 
> 
> Dear Reader, please avoid the beginning part / Flashback in the chapter, if you easily get triggered by these actions. Thank you.

* Flashback *

 

( August 2006, Doncaster )   
.

Louis was in his bedroom, at his house in Doncaster, when suddenly a strong hand pushed him into the wall in front of him.  Another hand covered his mouth, to not let him scream. Where Louis' body hit on the wall, it stung really bad, and sent swells of pain through his body. After a moment or so a chin rested on his shoulder and whoever it was, breathing onto Louis' ear. Louis tried to free his mouth to cry for help, when lips clamped down on his ear. 

They were light at first, and then the person bit down harder. Louis squirmed against the wall, tears started to form in his eyes, when he realized who the person was. The teeth turned to a tongue and It slid over the rim of Louis' ear and caused him to cry out. The other hand that was pushing him on the wall, slid down to his side stopping on his waist, just above the hem of his jeans. The person's face leans closer to him. 

"  Missed me in Cheshire, My sweetheart ?" he whispered in his ear. Louis tries to shove off his hands but the man was too strong for him. His fingers dig into Louis' skin leaving bruises on his hips.

" LEAVE ME ALONE, CONNOR. " Louis screamed as harshly as possible, when he got his mouth free from his tormenter's grip. He didn't want him to see how scared he was, and how he was shaking right now. Louis was only a 15 year old teenager, whether Connor was a 22 year old buff guy. 

"I'd love to, but you see, you're too pretty to let go, and this time, I think I'm going to finish what I've always wanted to do." Connor smirked at him, and that terrified Louis. Louis tried to push him back to get away but nothing seems to work, when Connor pinned Louis' hips on the wall forcefully.

"So, now my bit¢h knows how to fight, huh?" He smiles showing his crooked teeth getting more closer to press his body against Louis', making sure he has no way to escape.

Louis didn't know what to do. He hoped that this was all just a cruel joke, and it wasn't happening again to him, maybe a dream, a nightmare. But his hopes crashed down in front of his eyes, when Connor's lips started to move down to his neck and nipped at the tender skin. Louis knew this wasn't just one of his usual pathetic molestation , this was going to get bad, worse. Louis let out a noise of panic.

" NO NO NO NO ..... MOM HELP ME....! DAD...! PLEASE...! SOME BODY...!" Louis thrashed his limbs to get way from him. 

" Scream all you want, your parents left me here with you alone to take care of you."  Connor chuckled and started squeezing Louis' clothed bottom with one hand and tried to dip his other hand in front of his track pants. 

The fear starts rushing into Louis' mind, after hearing Connor say that, making his whole body jitter in angst. He knew that he wasn't strong enough to fight for himself with someone so masculine as Connor. But still he wasn't going to give up. All the while he was struggling to get away from Connor, he kept crying the chants of "No" and " Please let me go.", to have mercy on him. But all those heart wrenching cries were falling on to his molester's deaf ears. 

When he started to thrash his hands with full force, he mindlessly hit Connor on his head. Connor cried out holding his throbbing head and let go of Louis. That was the chance for Louis to get away from there and he took it. He dashed out of the room gathering all the strength he got left in his body. 

" YOU SON OF A BIT*H. I'M FU¢KINF GOING TO KILL YOU." Connor screamed in pain and anger, before he ran after him. 

Louis was almost at the front door when two hands grabbed him from the back and lifted him in the air. 

" O no twink, you're not going anywhere , not so fast." Connor said devilishly and started walking back, towards Louis' room on the first floor. Louis was thrashing in his hold and just hitting him everywhere, while he was wailing. 

" NO..... LEAVE ME...!  NO... NO... NO... NO... NO... HARRY...........! HARRY... HARRY... HARRY............" 

* End Of The Flashback *

 

(Present Day / 9 October 2016, Birmingham)   
. 

" HARRY... HARRY... NO.... DON'T TOUCH ME... HARRY... HELP ME, HARRY.... HARRY..."

Louis was thrashing his limbs in Harry's hold like someone was murdering him. His screams full of pain and suffering. His breathing wasn't even countable as he was screaming at the top of his lungs without giving himself time to breathe. And that was all so heartbreaking and terrifying for Harry to see. He had witnessed Louis a couple of times in his panic attacks but this was definitely the worst. 

Earlier Harry stopped the car near a park, when Louis start to panic in his dream. Harry got out of the car, taking a water bottle with him. He left the bottle on the hood of his car and opened Louis' side of door, before he detached the seat belt from Louis' body and pulled him out of the car. 

Now he was trying to get him out of his dreadful dream, but Louis wasn't coming back to him and that was just making his heart to stop beating any second now. He grabbed the bottle and opened it with his mouth, while holding a hysterical Louis firmly to his chest with one hand . He was sure, if he let go of him, within a second Louis will drop down to the ground in his weak condition.

As soon as he can get the bottle open, he poured some of the water on Louis' face. He put the bottle and it's cap down again where it was placed before, and started shaking Louis, when he stopped screaming and went limp in his hold. 

" LOU WAKE UP.... , Lou I'm here. Please open your eyes baby, look at me. I'm here, look at me. " his own eyes were brimming when he was trying to get him back. He shaked him harshly one more time screaming "LOU WAKE UP, I'M HERE." and pressed his forehead with Louis' before stared to sob when he couldn't get him out of his unconsciousness . 

"L-Lou p-please come b-back to me. I d-don't want to loose you a-again. P-Please Lou." he was holding Louis so tightly in his arms that his knuckles were turning white where he was grabbing on to Louis' shirt on his back . Now Louis' face was nuzzled into the crook of his neck and Harry's head was down onto Louis' shoulder. He was sobbing as both of their bodies were shaking with each sob left from his lips . 

" 'a-arry ? " 

Harry's eyes shot open and he pulled back from the hug, holding Louis steady in his hands . 

"Louis." he gasped. 

-

Louis' eyes were still close and his body wasn't moving at all, He could feel someone was holding him steady , someone's strong arms were wrapped around his waist. The hold was tight enough to keep him up on his feet but gentle enough to not bruise him. He didn't know who the person was, but he was thankful to them. And if he wasn't wrong, he thought the person was probably crying, as he could faintly hear their sobs in his left ear, where their head was resting on his shoulder. He wasn't sure where he was or with whom he was, but when he heard the next few words coming from their lips, "L-Lou p-please come b-back to me. I d-don't want to loose you a-again. P-Please Lou." and recognize the voice , he couldn't hold back to formed the words, gathering all of his stamina. 

"' a-arry ?" he whispered in barely audible voice and felt himself pulled from the warm comfort, and whimpered at the lack of body warmth. 

"Louis." he heard him gasping. 

-

After fighting a few seconds to gather enough strength to move his heavy eyelids, he blinked his eyelashes a few times and finally opened them to look at him. Everything was blurry for a few seconds as his eyes tried to focus, but as soon as he saw the person standing in front of him, his heart swelled from the happiness and sense of security. His wide eyes started to fill again, but this time there was no fear or anxiety in his eyes but happiness. 

"H-Harry ?" he asked again, slowly bringing his hand up to his cheek, because this can't be true, maybe he was hallucinating. 

" Yes Lou, it's me, Harry. You're Hazza." Harry said looking at his face in confusion, when he felt Louis doubting if he was really there. 

A gasp escaped from Louis' lips and he brought his hands back to himself before they could touch Harry's cheeks, when he heard Harry confirming his doubts. He really was here. 

Harry realized that Louis was still afraid to believe that it was real. So he freed his right hand from Louis' waist and very slowly and guardedly he grabbed Louis' left hand. Louis was watching his every move carefully with wide surprised eyes. Harry slowly started to move their hands to his face and finally left Louis' hand on his right cheek. 

" Believe me, BooBear, I'm here." Harry said and wiped Louis' tears for him. Louis closed his eyes leaning into his touch, when he felt Harry's warm hand touching his burning skin. 

"Oh Harry...." he sighed in content. The feeling was everything for him at the moment. It's like he never lived from the moment before, he could finally breathe. 

He opened his eyes again and the rainfall started to pour from his eyes, when he found Harry looking at him smiling. Out of nowhere a sudden gush of adrenaline filled his body and with so much force, he jumped forward onto Harry and wrapped his arms around his neck, hiding his face into Harry's neck. Harry was quick to hold him with his hands around his waist to not let him fall. Louis started to wail the words, Harry couldn't decipher why he was saying them. 

" You came.... Oh Haz...... You came for me.... You came Haz, you're here for me ......." he continued blabbering the words into his neck. Harry was taken aback by his sudden change of behaviour but held him close to his heart, wrapping his arms around him securely. 

" Yes Boo, I'm here. Please don't cry, Love." he was confused and worried about everything at the moment. Why would Louis say that he came...?

" You r-really came..... T-Thank you so m-much...... P-Please don't ev-ever leave m-me alone ; Never Ever....... P-Please.... I-I don't want to be here..... I don't want to stay in D-Donny anymore. Please take me back with you to Cheshire. P-Please Harry......" he kept crying and speaking and shaking his hand when he was talking about not wanting to stay in Doncaster . Now Harry was even more confused, they weren't in Doncaster, they were in Birmingham. 

" But Lou.... "

" Please Harry... Take me with you.... I don't w-want to live here anymore..... I made a big mistake to come back for s-summer vacations...... But now I don't want to spend anymore time here..... Please... Please..... O please ............. SAVE ME...! " his words were desperate and shaken but reaching to the end of his blabbering, the last two word escaped from his mouth with a heart shattering wail. For 2 seconds Louis tightened his grip on Harry, squeezing his hand on his back to emphasise the words, before he again went limp into Harry's hold . 

" Lou....? Oh my God.... Louis.... Are you okay...?" he pulled him back from the embrace to look at him.

Louis' head was tilting back , his eyes close, lips parted. His face was nothing but a canvas of sorrow. A canvas on which the dark shade of sadness was painted under his eyes, representing the hollow. Painful liquid of tears making his eyes glisten in the light. Crimson color was smeared all over his flushed face, but it was hard to define, if it was the color of his skin or the color of his blood, drenching from his soul. Dry lips like a deserted island which never felt a drop of water to reach it's shore. He was looking just like a lifeless person , searching for it's soul to come back to him. 

Harry wiped Louis' tears and his own before hugging him close to his chest. He grabbed the water bottle again and screwed the cap tightly so the water won't drip, and pocketed it into his jacket's pocket. He then looked at Louis' face and brushed some of his hair out of his forehead. 

" I'll always be here for you." he said before wrapping Louis' right arm over his shoulder and put his one arm under Louis' knees to lift him up in bridal carry. In his unconsciousness, Louis tilted his head and nuzzled his face into Harry's neck, securing his grip over his shoulders. Harry looked at him with a small smile and gave a soft peck to his hair. He started walking towards the garden, after locking the car. 

\---------

 

Harry was sitting on a bench, placed on the sidewalk in the park, and Louis was snuggled into his embrace in a peaceful slumber while Harry was cuddling him on his lap. Harry's arms were securely wrapped around Louis' body, keeping him as close as possible. Because that's the kind of cuddles Louis use to ask for after his attacks, when they were friends 10 years ago. 

He was still not able to contain what just happened, why was Louis regretting coming back to Doncaster for the summer. By now he understood that Louis was having a bad dream about being in Doncaster, when he was panicking in the car. And when Harry pulled him out of the dream, Louis was still living in the dream, subconsciously. But what was the dream about, he was now even more curious . Because that was the time after Louis came back to Cheshire only to transfer his studies to somewhere else and to leave him behind. His inner turmoil got interrupted when he heard a low whimper and felt Louis stir in his arms. 

"N-no, no, p-please....Ha-rry...." Louis stuttered in his sleep and tears start running from the corner of his closed eyes, over his pink nose. A drop of tear rolled down on Harry's chest where Louis' face was snuggled. 

"Shhhh..... I'm here, I'm here. You're safe." Harry whispered soothingly into his ear making his grip on him even more tight and rubbing his back. 

" T-They are trying to t-touch me. I d-don't want them to-to touch me, Harry. Please get me out of h-here." Louis clutched Harry's jacket and pulled himself more into him, sniffling. 

" No one can touch you until I'm here, Lou." Harry tried to pacify him with his words but Louis was still crying. Louis shook his head in distress and said, 

" I'm scared, Harry. I didn't know that those people will do that to me or I would never leave alone from there. " Louis again start to tremble on Harry's lap, as the panic begins to take over his body once more . 

Harry realized that Louis was not anymore in his subconscious state of mind and talking about the summer 06. Because now he was talking about the incidence which happened outside of the shopping centre. 

" Don't be scared to anything, I've got you. And I'm going to keep you safe alright. Just don't work up yourself yeah...." Harry got anxious when he felt Louis' body quaver. 

Louis did not responded to him and his body kept quavering like a leaf. Harry did not know what he can do to make his panic go away, but then suddenly an idea came into his mind. 

" Lou, want me to sing a song to you ?" he asked hesitant, this was one of his tricks to distract Louis' mind from his discomfort, which he used to do years ago. 

Louis rubbed his face onto Harry's blue shirt before nodding his head, "Please." He was still shaking. 

Harry lips twitched in a smile at Louis' kitten like action,  " Any special requests ?" he asked. 

"Hold my hand." Louis replied in a breathe. 

Harry's eyes widened and the smile disappeared from his face at Louis' choice of song. It was the song he sang to Louis when he first time found out about his panic attacks. 

"W-would you sing with me ?" he was suddenly feeling emotional. 

" ok." Louis mumbled. 

Harry took a deep breath to control his emotions and started to sing the first line of the song. His voice was raspy and deeper than Louis remember . 

H - " This life don't last forever," 

Harry waits for Louis to sing his part but when he didn't, Harry rubs his arms to encourage him, "Lou...." 

L - "Hold my hand..." he whispered. 

H - "So tell me what we're waiting for ? " 

L - "Hold my hand.. "   

H - "We're better off being together," 

L - "Hold my hand... " 

H - "Being miserable alone." 

L - " Hold my hand... " 

H - "Cause I've been there before  
And you've been there before  
But together we can be all right  
Cause when it gets dark and when it gets cold  
We hold each other 'til we see the sun light  
So we can just, 

L - " Hold my hand. "

H -" Baby, I p-promise that I do all I can  
Things will get b-better if you just..."

L - " H-Hold my hand." Louis starts crying.

H - "Nothing will co-me between u-us if you just..."

Both of them were in tears right now. Every word of the song was screaming every feelings they were dying to tell each other, but couldn't. Lump in their throats were making it hard for them to even sing properly. 

L - "Hold m-my hand."

H - "The nigh-ts are getting d-dark..." 

L - "Ho-hold my hand." 

H - "And there's no pea-ce inside..." 

L - "Hold my hand." 

H - "So wh-why make our lives ha-harder..." 

L - "Hold my ha..." 

H - "By fighting love..." 

L - "Tonight ba..." 

Louis couldn't control himself anymore and his hands those were holding on to Harry's jacket, suddenly made their way to circle around Harry's neck tightly and he pulled himself up to hug him, to cry on his shoulder. Harry, who was trying to stay strong for Louis up until now, also gave up and hid his face into the crook of Louis' neck, holding him up in the hug, before he also burst into tears . 

Both of their bodies were shaking in sync as they were bawling their eyes out in agony, and desperation for each other. The heart churning sounds of their broken sobs could easily be heard from meters away. None of them were able to utter a word to sooth each other. It was like a dam of emotions suddenly broke down. 

" I missed you so.... so much, Louis. So much. You don't know how many times I've tried to find a way back to you but I couldn't. I tried to find you in Donny but I couldn't, because I never knew your address. You never told me your address, why didn't you ? Why? " Harry cried out the words into Louis' neck. 

Hearing Harry cry those words, suddenly Louis' breathing start turning from sobbing to panting gasps. He started sucking at the air like it suddenly became thick and was now almost too difficult to draw in. He became deaf to the soothing words of Harry speaking to him, when he felt Louis' miserable state. 

" Lou..... Hush... Baby... It's ok .... No more.... Shhhhhh.... No more crying.... Deep and slow breaths...." Harry was rubbing his back and his fingers working through his hair but still Louis' breathing wouldn't control. He pulled Louis out of his shoulder and cupped his face between his palms. Louis' swollen eyes were closed and cheeks damp with fresh tears. 

" Here look at me.... I'm right here with you, no need to cry. You're scarring me Louis, please calm yourself down." Harry's eyes were still in tears like before, but now the tears were flowing in fear ; fear of losing his love. 

" 'm sorry, 'Arry." Louis whispered between his gasping for air and his eyes open to look. They were blood shot red. 

" Louis, oh thank God.......... No Boo, don't say sorry. It isn't your fault." Harry said wiping the corners of Louis' eyes. 

Louis shook his head and again tries to say something but he suddenly started to cough. 

"God Louis, stop talking. Here, have some water, Love." 

Harry scolded him lightly while opening cap of the water bottle he brought with him, for Louis. He adjusted Louis in his lap to a better sitting position and brought the tip of the bottle to his lips. Louis wrapped his own small hand around the bottle, over Harry's bigger one and started chugging the gulps of water. Harry's eyes moved to where Louis was touching him and found himself smiling at the still existing size difference between their hands, like all those years ago. 

When Louis finished drinking and pulled back the bottle from his lips, he murmured a small 'Thank you.' to Harry. Harry left the bottle on the side of the bench and looked back at him and found himself looking into Louis' sad eyes. When some more fresh tears rolled down from his eyes, Harry brought his hand to Louis' face and wiped his tears for him. Louis closed his eyes feeling the touch on his skin that he was missing for a decade now and couldn't get more of it. He again nuzzled his face into Harry's chest and stayed there for a while. 

When a few minutes later Louis felt Harry's uneven breathing, he pulled back from his neck to look up at his face. He reached out his hand to Harry's face when he saw his damp cheeks. A simple stroke of Louis' fingers across his cheek, made Harry melt into the touch. Spontaneously his own hand reaches up to hold Louis' hand over his cheek. He gave Louis' hand a little squeeze, closing his eyes before daring to ask again. 

" Why ?" 

Louis looks at him in confusion, not getting what Harry was referring to. 

"Why..... Why did you left ?" Harry spoke after taking a deep breath. 

Louis' heart start beating fast and he pulled his hand back from Harry's, before he scrambled off of him to get away from him. The sudden action left Harry in shock and confusion. 

On the other hand, when Louis made a sudden move to stand up, his head started to spin and he began to fall back. But as soon as his feet tumbled back, Harry stood up and held him before stabling him in his arms. 

" Lou, are you okay ?" he asked turning Louis to face him. 

" I - I need to go b-back." Louis wasn't making any eye contacts with him. 

" Lou, what the hell is going on... please talk to me ." Harry pleaded trying to follow Louis' eyes. 

"I said, I want to go back. And if you are not going to help me, I'm going by myself." Louis said harshly, glaring at him. He shrugged his arms free from Harry's hold, before start walking away from there. He barely walked a few steps when Harry grabbed his wrist and turned him around, obliviously a bit forcefully resulting both of their chests to collide with each other's . 

"Harry, What the.... " 

" What happened to us, Lou ?" Harry cut him off . 

" Let me go Harry." Louis tried to free his wrist but Harry wasn't loosing the grip on it. 

"Louis, I need an explanation." 

" I don't fu¢king owe you anything." Louis said through his gritted teeth. 

" Yes, you do. You owe me lots of things.... but for now, I want an explanation that you owe me for why you left Cheshire and me without telling me the reason. " Harry says in frustration, his eyes starts glistening. 

" I don't want to talk about it." Louis replied in a small voice, looking down. 

Harry sighed and brought his hand to caress Louis' cheek, " Louis, I'm your best friend, you can talk to me about anything." 

Louis' heart ached, when Harry called him his best friend. He knew that Harry still calls him his best friend and no matter what, Louis does too. But that is why he has to push him away, because Harry doesn't deserves a heart with a scar in it. And that is the reason why he did the next thing to make Harry hate him more. 

Louis jerked his hand from Harry's grip and pushed him back with so much force and screamed at his face, "YOU'RE NOT MY FRIEND ANYMORE." he lied. 

Harry stumbled back on his feet in shock,

"Lou...." 

" You're not my friend anymore, Harry." he repeated himself shaking his head, eyes start to water, looking at Harry. 

Harry takes a step towards him but halts his movements when Louis helds up his hand to make him stop from taking another step forward . 

" Don't Harry. Just don't."

" I know it's been 10 years, but I still think of you as my best friend." Harry says politely from where he was. But Louis just shakes his head and starts to walk away.

All of the suppressed frustration and desperation to know the reason behind everything, and then watching Louis walk away from there without saying anything, made Harry infuriated. He rushed to Louis and again pulled him back with his arms. 

" What are you doing, let me go Harry...." Louis said in pain, when he felt Harry's hands wrapped around his both of his arms too tight. 

"No. I want to know what happened that made you leave Cheshire. I want to know why did you hide everything from me." Harry said. 

"Harry please....." Louis' eyes were shining with tears. 

" No Louis, I've waited 10 years to fu¢king know, since when my tears became worthless to you, why suddenly seeing me in pain didn't affected you." Harry said looking into his eyes, remembering what happened when the last time they met 10 years.

"Harry stop..." Louis was now pleading to him, but Harry's emotions were too strong at the time that he couldn't saw Louis' tears and continued lashing out his agony on him. 

" And why when I said that I Loved you ......" 

" STOP IT !" Louis screeched and started hitting his chest with his fist. 

Each and every single word of Harry, were stabbing like a dagger in Louis' heart. He knew that he was at the fault in here but he had his own reasons to not let him in, which maybe he could never explain to him. All the memories, all the voices from the past and every little moment they spent together, were flashing in front of his eyes. He continued hitting Harry's chest while crying and screaming at him. 

" STOP TALKING FOR GOD'S SAKE HARRY. I don't want to explain You, why I did all of that. I don't fu¢king even want to be near you. I don't want to see your face again, why can't you just see that. I don't want you in my life again, you wanna know why ? Because having you in my life at the first time was the BIGGEST MISTAKE OF MY LIFE . "  He lied, he had to if he wanted Harry to forget about him. He had to break his heart once again because Harry doesn't deserves someone like him. He deserves to be with someone who's heart didn't have a scar in it. Louis wiped his eyes and walked away from there to get out of the park as soon as possible. 

Harry's heart sank and eyes widened at Louis words. The tears those were trapped somehow until now, start flowing over the mountains of his cheeks. The words hit like knives stabbing deep into his heart. He sat down on the bench and cried for whatever time he needed to. 

\------

When Harry walked out of the park after his crying, he found Louis standing a few feet away from his car. He was asking for a lift from the vehicles passing by, with his thumb up hand, waving up and down. Even though Louis just broke his hopes all over again, that wasn't gonna change anything for Harry. Harry knew that there was something really wrong happened with Louis that he was trying to hide, but he was going to give him his time. Maybe not today but in the future Louis will explain everything to him. 

" Get in the car, I'll drive you to your hotel."  
Harry said in his raspy voice standing next to his car. 

No response. 

Harry huffed in annoyance and walked up to him, 

"I said get in....." 

" I heard and I don't want your help, I'll get a lift." Louis' cut him off and said, as harshly as he could. He wasn't surprised to see Harry again talking to him. He knew that Harry would never give up on him this easily and would never leave him alone like this on a strange place. 

"As you wish." Harry shrugged his shoulders and walked back to his car. But instead of getting in the car and drive away, he jumped up on the car hood and made himself comfortable. 

Louis rolled his eyes and kept waving his thumb in the air. There were barely a few cars on the road and those were not stopping for a stranger like him as it was getting dark. After a few minutes when the temperature started to drop and the chilled air started seeping through his ears, Louis' body began shivering. Spontaneously his hands wrapped around himself and began rubbing his sides and sometimes cover his ears to keep himself warm. 

Harry noticed his little discomfort and jumped off the car. Louis saw him doing that from the corner of his eyes and thought that maybe he was going to ask him again, so he made himself ready to reject his proposal again. But when he saw Harry getting into his car, Louis' jaw dropped in shock, "A$$hole." he muttered under his breath feeling betrayed. He looked away in anger and kept waiting for any car to give him lift. 

Suddenly Louis felt someone tap on his shoulder and he turned with a sour look on his face, knowing who that was. 

"Wear this or you'll catch cold, it's yours, it got off when you were having....." Harry trailed off offering Louis his beanie, which fell off of his head when he was thrashing his body inside the car. 

Louis looks from him to cap and snatched it from his hand before wearing it himself.

" You sure you don't want to come." Harry asked once again. But Louis just ignored him. Harry mumbles, " You're welcome by the way." in a small voice. Louis growls at Harry in annoyance, Harry smiles at his stubbornness and walks back to stand next to his car. 

It's been 20 minutes after that and none of the cars were stopping and it was obvious that none of the upcoming cars were going to stop. Harry finally decided to take the matters in his hands and walked towards Louis. 

" Louis stop acting like a child and get in the car. It's getting late, your friends must be worried about you." Harry says. 

No response. 

Harry rolled his eyes again at his stubborn behaviour before asking, 

" I'm asking you this one more time. You coming with me or not?", 

No answer. Louis knew that Harry would probably give up and wait until a car stops for him. But his thoughts proved wrong with what happened next. 

"Fine. " Harry said, before lifting Louis up above the ground and threw him over his shoulder, and started walking towards his car. 

" HARRY !!! WHAT THE HECK ARE YOU DOING..... UNHAND ME.... !!!" Louis shrieked in surprise. 

Harry didn't said anything but kept walking to his car and unlocked it with his car keys, after fishing them out from his jeans pocket. He opened the door and deposited Louis carefully on the passenger seat, before locking the door immediately, when Louis tried to protest against it. " Harry let me go." He said like the thousandth time that evening to Harry and as always, Harry ignored him and walked towards driver's side before getting in. 

" Harry, open the damn door, I want to get out of this car." Louis said through his gritted teeth while trying to get out of the car. 

" Which hotel are you staying at ?" Harry asked with a bored look. 

" Harry let me......" 

" I asked where are you staying ? "

" And I said that I don't want your help. " he retorted. 

" Listen Louis, I'm not going to leave you here alone, and I'm sure that not a single car is going to stop here at this time. So it's better if you tell me the name of your hotel and let me drop you, instead of staying here all night, waiting till the morning ; With me. The choice is yours. " Harry said in matter of fact way. 

Louis kept glaring at him but Harry wasn't going to change his mind. So finally Louis told him the name of his hotel and sat back in his seat, folding his arms after buckling himself. 

" It's an hour long drive from here." Harry informed him after putting the name and address into the GPS, and turn on the ignition to bring the car into life.

"WHAT ? Ho-how can that be ? It only took me half an hour to get to the shopping centre." Louis asked in shock. 

" Well I drove to the other way." Harry replied sheepishly, not daring to look at him. 

"arggggghhhhhhhh" 

"Yeah do that, it's going to help." Harry joked. 

Louis gave him a death glare and then closed his eyes to take a little rest until they get to his hotel. Harry smiled to himself and turned the radio on before he start driving . Meanwhile driving the car, he kept stealing a few glimpse from the person now sleeping beside him and admiring the view after so many years. 

\--------

When Harry reached to the hotel, he cut off the engines. He turned to look at Louis who was still sleeping and called his name a few times to woke him up. But even after calling his name quite a few times loudly and shaking his shoulder, Louis only mumbled, " Shut up." in his sleep and curled into himself to sleep more. Harry was all aware of his behavior, even if it's been years. Louis changed in so many ways but some of his habits were still the same. He still falls into heavy slumber after his attacks. And he still gets whiney and hard to wake up. 

He climbed out of the car and goes to Louis' side to fetch him out of the car. Once he unlocked the door, he again shook his shoulder, but only got whining in return. He wasn't sure if he should himself take Louis to his room or.... Well he didn't had another choice. 

"Let's hope you won't get angry at me for doing this.", he said as he unbuckled the seat belt, scooping Louis into his arms afterwards. Louis immediately nuzzled his face into Harry's neck, clinging onto his jacket. Harry's heart warms at the moment as he made his way into the building. He was sure that Louis was not going to answer any of his questions now, so he just made a bee line to the reception area. 

" Umm excuse me, would you please tell me, which floor and room, Louis Tomlinson is staying in ?" Harry asked politely to the female receptionist named Aisha. 

The girl looked at him for a second in confusion and then Louis in his arms. She gave him a smile, when she recognized Louis. Sure she knew who Louis was. 

" Is he okay ? I mean, after what happened out of that shopping centre. " she asked in concern. 

" Yeah, he's fine. Just a little bit worn out after the incident. But how did you know ?" Harry asked in confusion. 

" Actually I'm a big fan of One Direction, and what happened, blew up on the internet. So that's how. C'mon let me show you the way." Aisha said and walked out from behind the front desk, after leaving someone else in charge. 

They both got in the lift and Aisha pressed the button to Louis' floor. 

" Thanks by the way, for helping him today. I know you're not his bodyguard." She said looking at him truthfully. 

" You don't have to thank me. M-my niece is a really big fan of him. So if anything happens to him, she would be devastated, that's why..."  He hides the truth but he just doesn't want to risk anything here for Louis. 

" That's really sweet of you. But as a fan myself, I'm really thankful for you today. " she said gracefully and then the lift reached to its destination, before the doors opened with a ding. 

Both of them walked out of the lift, and Aisha lead the way to Louis' room. She knocked on the door, when they stopped in front of the last room in the corridor. 

Within a few seconds the door opened widely and an amazed looking Zayn was standing there. 

" Louis.... Oh thank God he's okay. Thank you, thank you so much, please take him inside." Zayn rambled and exhaled a breath of relief. 

" Thanks, Aisha." Harry turned to her and gave her a smile. 

"You're welcome and Mr. Malik, I hope everything gets better now. If you need any medical assistance for him, please let us know, we'll send one immediately." She said professionally to Zayn. 

" Thanks and sure, if we need any, I would definitely let you know. " Zayn gave her a smile and closed the door, when she walked away from the door and Harry walked inside. 

" Harry, is he okay? What happened there ? And where were you guys until now ? Does he needs to get checked by a doctor ? " as soon as Zayn closed the door, he stated bombarding Harry with questions and rushed to his side to inspect the sleeping person in his arms. 

" He's okay and I don't think if he needs a doctor. " Harry said while placing Louis on the sofa. 

After laying him down on the sofa, when Harry tried to retrieve his arm back from under Louis' head, Louis suddenly whined in his slumber and caught his arm. He pulled Harry's arm into his chest, before holding it tightly and rubbed his nose over Harry's forearm before Snuggling to it. 

Harry was now standing or more like hovering over Louis with his right arm stuck in Louis' grip, in a very awkward position. He turned to look at Zayn raising his eyebrows in expectation. 

"Ermmm a little help please....." 

Zayn couldn't contain his chuckled and said, 

" Wow.... That kid is clingy. I wonder how you and Niall handle him." 

"I asked for a help, not your lame comments." , Harry retorted playfully, giving him a smile. 

Zayn just laughed and walked away from there, leaving a confused Harry behind. When he came back, he had a stool in his hand, which he place next to where Harry was standing. 

" What is this for ? "  Harry asked looking at the wooden furniture. 

" You need to sit down or else, your back will start killing you with pain ?" Zayn said standing next to him. 

" I asked your help to make my arm free from his grip, so I can go. Not to get me a stool to sit on, Zayn." Harry said. 

" Well..... first of all, it's nearly impossible to get your arm free from that hold, and look he seems so much better and happy....... And secondly, you're not leaving me alone in a situation where I don't have Niall or anyone else to look after him in this state. So yeah you're staying until he wakes up or Niall or someone else gets here ." Zayn said again walked out of there. 

" And by the way, tea or coffee ? " Zayn asked stopping in his tracks . 

" Just water please."

" You sure.... Perhaps a cuppa, it's getting cold out there ? " 

" No thanks, I'm okay with a glass of water. "

After few minutes Zayn brings a glass of water and two cups of coffee for Harry and himself, before he sits beside him on a single sofa. 

"So... Wanna talk about, what happened....?" 

" I didn't asked for a coffee, you didn't have to." Harry said when he saw two cups of coffee. 

" You really thought I would only get you a glass of water... Pfffttt." Zayn chuckled and picked up his coffee. Harry shook his head, giving him a smile. 

" Hey did you let the others know that Louis is here ?" Harry asked suddenly. 

"Shoot.... I forgot, just a minute." Zayn typed a message and sent it to the the group chat, they all started when they were searching for Louis. And just like that he started to get replies from almost everyone. Finally everyone was now aware that Louis was back. 

" Yes, now they all know. So I think until they get here, you wanna talk about what happened...?", Zayn again asked Harry. 

Harry thought for a moment about it, if he should tell him or not. But when Zayn gave him a promise to keep it safe to himself, Harry explained everything. He explained him from, when he found Louis by the breakfast aisle to walking inside Louis' room here, few minutes ago. But he skipped the information about, what Louis said, while he was having the panic attack, outside the park. About saving him from something or someone, and to not leave him behind in Doncaster. He was himself not sure what Louis dream or panic was about, so he decided to not point it out in front of Zayn. 

" Well now I can understand, why he always like to stay away from the crowd and the fans. They sometimes tend to get really excited and invade our privacy. It happened to us many times and we also used to get panic in the start, but now we just try to ignore it. " Zayn said. 

" I think because of me he got more worked up. I mean, it was me who triggered his panic in the first place and made him vulnerable, and the fans just pulled the last straw. " he knew that it was the truth, if he wouldn't have been there and shook Louis' emotions, probably he would have handled the fans. 

" You didn't intend to do that Harry. It was just an accident. As you said, you were hiding from him and by mistake you came in front of him. So just........." Zayn was trying to convince him that he wasn't at the fault, when Louis suddenly stirred in his sleep and pulled on to Harry's hand more before whining in his sleep. 

" 'ayn........ Stop takin...... 'm tryin to sleep....."

Zayn and Harry's attention turned to him and both of them started smiling looking at him. 

"I think it's better if you wake up, sleepy head." Zayn said going next to him and kneeling on the floor infront of him, before he started running his fingers through Louis' hair. 

" don't wanna...." he mumbled rubbing his face on Harry's arm, securing it more closely before sighing in content at the pamper. 

" Ummmm.... Louis I need to go now." Harry said, when he saw that Louis still wasn't leaving his arm . 

Louis' eyes flew open after hearing Harry's voice and he sat up in a flash, shocking Zayn and Harry both. He was still holding onto Harry's arm when he sat up, and his sudden action caused Harry to tumble over from his seat. 

Louis' eyes widened and looked where he was holding on to Harry. He frantically unwrapped his own hands around Harry's, "S-sorry I don't know.. How, when, how.... $hit I'm sorry..."  he apologized fiddling with his hand. His face was flushed and if ground could swallow him up right now, he would definitely thank the almighty for it. 

Harry just mumbled "It's alright." Zayn, who was sitting on the floor until now, sat down next to Louis and asked carefully. 

"Lou, are you feeling better ? " 

"Y-yeah I'm okay ." 

" You sure, I mean if you still feel any uneasiness, I can call a doctor to check your blood pressure or something." 

" No, I'm much better now." He gave him a genuine smile and he could see that Harry was looking at him with the same concern expressions as Zayn. But before Zayn could ask further more about it, someone started pounding at the door, so he walked away to answer it. 

Louis and Harry were sitting in a uncomfortable silence when a booming voice filled the room, 

" Where is he, is he okay ?" 

Louis looked up and saw Mike rushing over to him with worried look. Louis gave him a smile before standing up and walked towards him. With in a second Mike engulfed him in a bone crushing hug and lifted him off of his feet, like he always does when he meets him. 

" Oh thank you God....Thank you Thank you Thank you...... Lou, you scared the $hit out of me, you know that..... Thank you God... Thank you so much........"  Mike sighed into Louis' neck, almost in tears. 

" Damn it Louis, from now on you're not allowed to walk alone outside without any of us. You're grounded until further notice. And I swear to God, I'm going to kill Liam. How could he make you go alone like this. No offence Zayn but your boyfriend is an a$$hole. " Mike finished looking at Zayn in anger, who was watching their little interaction and was smiling at both of them. 

But Harry was lost for words, watching the entire scene unfolding in front of his eyes....... Who was this guy ? 

******************************

" I can tell that you're tired of being lonely  
Take my hand,   
don't let go,   
baby hold me  
Come to me and let me be your  
one and only  
Cause I can make it all right   
'til the morning." 

Hold My Hand by   
Michael Jackson feat. Akon


	10. Flicker Of Hope

(9 October 2016, Birmingham)   
. 

Harry was well aware of the emotions that were pooling inside Mike's eyes. Worry, Tension, Fear, Relief but what made him to get confused about was the Fond in his eyes for Louis. All these things were Indicating to only one thing, which he was afraid of. And he was just wishing that whatever he was thinking right now wasn't true. 

After his rambling and finally taking a hold on to his emotions, Mike pulled out from the hug. He cupped Louis' face and looked straight into his eyes with concern, searching for answers. 

" You okay ? Are you feeling better ?" He said lightly stroking the side of Louis' cheeks. 

Louis gave him a smile and squeezed his hand over cheek. " I'm okay, Mike. Don't worry about it." 

Mike breathe out in relief and hugs him again. " God.... I got so scared, Louis." 

And suddenly few tears rolled down from his eyes, which he instantly wiped away before anyone could notice. But Harry did and his doubts started to clear. 

All of a sudden the front door of the suite open and with rushing steps, Niall walked inside calling for Louis. 

" Louis ! oh my God baby, How are......" but before he could complete his sentence, his eyes moved from his friend to someone he had been looking for ever since Louis disappeared from the shopping centre. 

At that moment Niall saw red and launched himself on Harry, before punching him hard in the face, and strangled him down on to the sofa where Harry fall down due to sudden force. 

"YOU FU¢KING BASTARD ! "

" NIALL...!" Louis screeched from where he was standing next to Mike, too shocked to move. 

"Shit...." Zayn said and ran towards the two boys, tumbled over the sofa. Zayn pulled off Niall from Harry and pushed him back away from Him.  

" How fucking dare you to do that..., You as$hole." Niall lashed in anger and again tried to punch him but Zayn held him back into his firm grip. Louis was still frozen in his shocked phase. 

"Niall, what the fu¢k is wrong with you ? Why did you hit him ?" Zayn scolded Niall, having a hard time holding him still. 

" Zayn, this swine tried to kidnap Louis. I swear to God I'm going to kill him today." Niall again tried to attack him but Mike jumped on the spot to stand between Harry and him. 

" Are you insane Niall, what are you talking about? This guy literally saved Louis' life and you are accusing him of kidnapping Louis. Niall use your mind. " Mike said and helped Harry to slowly get up from the sofa. Harry was holding his throbbing cheek, stunned at the action.

" I know what I'm talking about , Mike and that's why..... " Niall tried to retort but this time Louis cut him off harshly. 

" Niall enough ! Come with me, before you punch him again." Louis said and dragged Niall by his arm into his bedroom in the suite . 

" But Lou, he.... " 

" I said shut up, Niall. " 

Mike turned to Harry and asked him politely. 

" Are you okay ? "

" Y-yeah. "

" I mean your cheek seems a bit red where he punched.... " Mike gestured to his hand. 

" Oh.. Y-yeah, it's fine. " Harry said and dropped his hand from where it was still on his cheek, to his side. 

" I'm really sorry for his actions, but I'm more than thankful to you for saving Louis today. " Mike said looking generous and giving him a smile. 

Harry looks from Mike to Zayn, when he nods, Harry returned his gaze on Mike and gave him a smile as well. 

" I-It's ok. No problem."

" Hi, I'm Mike Varshavski." Mike held out his hand to him. 

" Harry Styles."

" It's really nice to meet you." and they both shake their hands giving each other smile. 

" Harry, do you need some ice for..... " Zayn gestured to his cheek. 

" Don't worry about it, Zayn, I'm okay. "  Harry chuckled at his serious face. Zayn and Mike both relaxed and smile as well. 

"  I'm really sorry for his stupidity. But trust me he was just concerned about Louis, and when he saw you taking Louis away from there in that video, he just got a really worried." Zayn apologized. 

"It's okay." Harry said. 

Mike was going to say something but suddenly Harry's phone starts ringing, so he excused himself and walked a few steps away from them to answer the call. 

\-----------

As soon as the door closed behind Louis, he jerked Niall to face him and asked in anger. 

" Why did you do that ?" 

" You're asking me, why I did that ? Louis he literally kidnapped you and kept you away all this time ? Where were you, did he do something to you ? " Niall asked Louis, holding him with his shoulders. 

" What are you talking about ? He didn't kidnapped me . " Louis looked at him like he was crazy. 

" Yes, he did. If he was trying to help you, wouldn't he take you back to the hotel, instead of keeping you away from us, all these hours. Because he was looking for a chance to talk to you, that's why he did that. Fu¢king A$$hole. 

I knew that I should have punched him that day at the airport, so he wouldn't dare to do this to you. " Niall grumbled to himself, pacing in the room. 

" What did you say? " Louis looked at him in confusion and surprise.

" What ? " Niall still did not realize that he spilled the beans. 

"  How do you know that he wants to talk to me , and when did you meet him at the airport....? " He was furious now. 

Niall's eyes widened and he looks down, not daring to meet Louis' stern gaze. 

" Niall James Horan, I demand answers. What the heck is going on ? When did you talk to him and don't you dare hide anything from me ? " Louis folded his arms in front of him, keeping his eyes on him. 

Niall huffed in surrender and explained him everything what happened at both of the airport, London and Glasgow. 

Louis looked at him for a while in complete shock and suddenly burst into laughter and hugged him. 

"  Oh my God.... What kind of good deed did I do to deserve friends like you guys in my life. ", Louis said into his shoulder hugging a complete baffled Niall, because Niall did not expected this kind of reaction from him. 

" You're not angry with us ?" Niall questioned hugging him back. 

Louis parted from the hug and looked at him still chuckling, " Absolutely not. You all did that just to keep me safe. So why would I be. But it's kind of funny though....." 

" You're an ass to laugh at me, when I'm seriously worried about you." Niall pushed him back. 

" I'm sorry, you idiot. But that's why I love you, because you care about me. " Louis said and hugged him again. They both were smiling. 

"Let's just go outside, you need to apologize to him and I need to thank him for the last time, for today. " Louis said after releasing him. 

" But Louis....." Niall whined, not wanting to do so. 

" Niall, he helped me today. He did not do any harm to me. So you have to, for me at least. " Louis wasn't going to mention anything about Harry asking him about everything and him breaking down . 

Niall held his hand and stopped him from going out of the room. 

" Louis, what happened today ?" Niall asked getting serious. 

Louis smiled at him and put his hand over his shoulder in a comforting way, " I'll explain it to you later." 

Niall nods to him and they both walk outside the door, into the living area where everyone else was. 

\------------

When Louis walked into the living area, he couldn't find Harry there. He noticed Mike was in the kitchen and Zayn was sitting on the sofa going through his phone. 

" Where's he? " Louis asked Zayn, and he looked up at him. 

" He got a call from his work so he had to go." Zayn explained.  

' Oh no.... he can't just leave like this, I need to thank him for everything and say goodbye to him for good this time. ' Louis thought to himself. 

" When did he leave ?" he asked. 

"  A few minutes ago." 

Louis started walking to the door and Zayn followed. 

" Louis, where are you going ? " Zayn asked holding his hand. 

" I'm going to talk to him one last time before he leaves." Louis said looking into his eyes filled with worry. 

" But Louis you're still tired from all the stress. " 

" I'm okay, Zayn. And please don't tell Mike about Harry, if you haven't already, and nor let anyone else tell him about it ; please ." Louis pleaded. 

" Sure but please be careful. You want me to come with you ? " Zayn was concerned about his friend. 

" No I'm okay, Thanks though. " Louis answered and scurried away from there. 

\---------

As soon as the lift open at the ground floor, Louis dashed to the exit of the building, searching for a tall masculine man that used to be the lankiest person he ever knew. 

He was out in the parking lot when suddenly he saw Harry walking away to the dark side of the road, a bit far away from where he was. Louis ran towards him and as soon as he reached to his earshot , he called out his name and stopped, panting with heavy breathing. 

" Harry ! " 

Harry's steps halted recognize the voice and he turned around. He was surprised to see that Louis was there in fact. He did not expect him to follow him at all. He looked behind him and side to side, to see if anyone else was with him or not. 

" Why did you leave...?" Louis asked walking up to him stopping a few feet away from him. 

" What are you doing out here, alone ? You need to rest, Lou. " the name suddenly slipped out of Harry's mouth and Louis's breath hitch listening to it. Harry did called him 'Lou' when they were in the park earlier, but that time he was too overwhelmed to notice it. 

" I - I'm okay, but why did you leave without seeing me ?" Louis asked. 

" I got a call from work, I had to leave early tomorrow. I was getting late." Harry said looking down to his feet. 

" I'm sorry for what Niall did and said to you ; today AND before ."  Louis apologized. 

"He told you ?" Harry's head jerked up, surprised . Louis nodded. 

" It's okay, I can understand why he did that. He only wanted to protect you from getting hurt." Harry said looking at him. 

"Still..." 

" It's completely okay, Louis." 

" Thanks for today, for helping me to escape from the crowd." Louis said giving him a thankful smile. 

" It's okay." Harry replied with a smile. 

After that there was a nervous silence between the both of them for a while, before Harry said hesitantly. 

" Can I ask you something ?" 

"Sure." 

" Is he - Is he your boyfriend, Mike ?" Harry asked looking at him with a look that could only be define as pained.  

"N-No." Louis' eyebrows frowning at the question.

' Why would Harry ask such a question, Mike was only his friend.' he thought. 

" It's alright, you don't have to hide it. I can see it in his eyes, he really likes you. And it's okay, he seems like a nice guy." Harry said looking down, he felt like Louis was trying to hide the truth, when he stuttered. 

" Harry...." Louis tried to explain him but Harry cut him off. 

"Don't worry, I'm not going to judge you, Louis." Harry said looking at him now. 

Louis was thinking about it, if he should just lie to him that yes Mike is his boyfriend, so maybe Harry would forget about him; but he couldn't. He did not want to lie to him anymore. As he was going to deny it, Harry beat him to it with another question, leaving him stunned. 

" Louis, can we at least be friends ? " Harry asked with hopeful eyes. 

" Harry... I.. I'm sorry. I c-can't." he said and looked away. 

Here he was trying to keep Harry away from him as much as possible, but Harry was trying to make friends with him. 

"Please Louis...." Harry pleads with taking a step towards him. 

" Please don't do this, Harry." Louis said looking at him in eyes.

"It's-It's okay, I-I understand. And I promise, I won't bother you anymore." Louis could see the pain and suffering in his eyes and that was all caused by him and that hurt him the most. He just wanted to see him happy but instead he was bringing him pain. 

Louis couldn't find the energy to stand there and see him going through the pain any more, so he turns around to walk away, but Harry called his name again. 

"Louis...." 

Louis stopped but he was still facing away from him. 

" Can I at least get a last hug from you, before we part our ways." Harry's voice cracking. 

Louis closed his eyes to control his emotions when he heard his defeated voice. 

" Please..." Harry whispered. 

After few moments of debating, Louis turned around to look at him. Harry moves a step forward, looking at him pleading, wordlessly holding his arms open in invitation, and Louis couldn't control himself. He flings himself into his embrace, with a content sigh escaping from his lips. They buried their faces into the crook of each other's neck and just stood there holding each other. 

Yes, Louis hugged him before that day but it was in his subconscious state and he couldn't feel it properly. That's why when Harry opened his arms, he did not hesitate to go into them and feel that warmth again . His body was so familiar to him - the way it moves, the smell of his natural cologne, even the sound of his heart beating. He never felt like this since the last time he hugged Harry ten years ago. It Was so warm, it felt right and smelt right. 

Louis let his body sag, his muscles become loose. Harry gave Louis the respect of an equal but cradled him like a cherished child. In that embrace Louis felt his worries loose their keen sting and his optimism raise its head from the dirt. 

When Harry wrapped him in a warm swaddle of his chest and arms, Louis didn't want to leave. It felt as if when he was in his arms, all of his pain went away - mental and physical, mostly the depressing pain. If Louis could only stay in his arms forever, safe from the world's harmful people. One could only hope. Perhaps the Flicker Of Hope had been there all along, but with his situation, it was trapped like crystals in a stone. He was trapped in his past. 

He felt Harry brush his hair, back of his head with his fingers and maybe he felt a touch of gentle kiss there ; maybe. 

" I - I know it d-doesn't matter anymore... But.... I - I still love you, Lou." Harry said in his raspy voice, indicating that he was definitely crying while holding him closer, heart aching for their feelings.

Louis' eyes clutches even more as he wracked with the force of unvoiced cries. He wanted to scream to say back to him that yes, he loves him too . With all his heart and soul. He never stopped, not for a second. He wanted to scream it from the rooftop so that the whole world could hear his declaration. But he couldn't. He can not be a selfish person. 

Louis breathed in deeply before he pushed himself back from the warm embrace of the love of his life and started walking away from there. Harry tumbled back a few steps looking at Louis walking away from there in agony and says. 

" Louis....." but before he could say something more , Louis said the words which made him freeze where he was standing. 

" I don't want to see you again, Harry ." 

Louis said without looking at him, stopping for a moment, before he ran away from there inside the hotel ; never looking back. 

Louis was in the lift when he pushed the emergency button to stop the lift in the middle. When the need to cry gets the best of him. He slid down to the floor in a corner of the lift and pulled his knees to his chest. His arms wrapped around his legs tightly as he hid his face between them before bawling his eyes out.

Why it was happening all over again with him. After so many sleepless nights and so many attempts of loosing his soul, he was finally living his life at some peace. Then why did Harry have to come back into his life again. Why ? He learned how to live without anyone from his past beside him. It has been 10 years since he left Cheshire but it has been the same since he left Doncaster as well. He wanted to forget about everything from his past, that's why he never went back to his home. And now everything was coming back to him. 

After crying for until he felt like no more, he pushed the button to start the lift again to go up. As soon as Louis walked inside his suite , he rushed to his bedroom not looking at anyone but letting them know, 

" I'm going to sleep." 

Mike and Niall were sitting on the sofa, who abruptly stood up at his voice. But before any of them could ask anything to Louis, he was already in his room with door closing behind him. Niall understand his situation and was about to sit back on the sofa, when Mike try to walk after Louis, but Niall stopped him before he could and said. 

" Let him take some rest, he is probably tired from all of the things that happen today. "

" But he did not eat anything." Mike gestured to Louis' room. 

"I'll check on him later for that but for now let's just leave him alone for a bit." Niall said giving him a smile. Mike nods and sits beside him. 

When door closes behind, Louis advanced to his bad before throwing himself on it. He buried his face into the pillow to muffle the sobs. He slowly curls up in a ball and cries for until he loses his consciousness. 

\------------

Harry collapsed on the ground on his knees, watching Louis walk away from there, just like it happened all those years ago. 

They were again in the same situation as they were 10 years ago. Louis said words that broke Harry's heart and left him crying on the street, in a dark night. While he walked away from there, not looking back but wiping his own tears.

In the half-light, Harry looked like a dark shadow he'd become without Louis. Hunched over the ground sobbing into his hands. He thought maybe he could have Louis back in his life unbreakable, but when he saw him walking away, he did not feel only broken, but shattered into fragments more numerous than the stars. He wanted to beg, plead, get down on his knees and tell him that his life here has no meaning without him, that their love has meaning, but he knows Louis really well.

If Louis decides something then his ears are closed and his mind has put up barriers to all the pleadings. So no matter what Harry say, it will only push him further away. Even though they both were hurt and they both wanted to run to each other and kiss everything better. But Louis was afraid to broke those walls, he towered in the past 10 years.

So when Harry gets up from the ground after having some control over his emotions, he wishes only the best for Louis from the Gods above. Same as Louis thought that It was better for both of them if they make another start in their lives. But Louis was again wrong to think if they can have a life without each other. 

They will meet again. 

\-----------

( 12 October 2016, Birmingham) 

Suffering. That's how Louis described it the next three days. Although he believed it was much more than just "suffering". It was a plethora of shattered bones, burning flesh, and cracked skulls. In other words, it was pain and painful. Heavy, the air seemed to be as the agonizingly long as days drew on. The wants and needs to shed a tear but feeling nausea by the thought of everything. He was back to square one, starting from scratch. 

Right now he was in the tour bus, going back to their hotel after the last show in Birmingham. He was sitting in the back of the bus with everyone. But as everyone else was busy chatting or doing something, he was just trying to distract his mind by either going through his Twitter page or sometimes listening to the others. Niall was noticing the frown on his face for a while now and finally he asked. 

" You okay, Louis ?" 

Louis looked up hearing his name. 

" Yeah - yeah , it just that I'm having this weird, unsettling feeling in my heart. I don't know what it is. I talked to Mum and girls earlier to check if they were okay and they were, but it's still there. I don't know, maybe I'm just tired." 

"Take some rest, Tommo." Niall advised with a smile. 

" Come with me, let's cuddle like old times." Calum said who was sitting next to Niall and stood up dragging Louis to his bunk. Louis gave him a smile and went with him.

After what felt like 15 minutes, Louis suddenly woke up from his nap with his heart beating fast. 

" Hey, hey, hey.... You okay mate." Calum said rubbing his back to sooth him, sitting himself up. 

" Y-yeah... C-can I h-have some w-water." he stuttered out, still trying to catch up with his breathing. He didn't know why his heart suddenly stopped for a second like something bad happened. 

" Sure." Calum gives him a water bottle which was in the bunk. After downing half of the water from the bottle, Louis again lays down and tries to sleep. 

After a few more minutes into his nap, Louis felt the Bus stopping suddenly. So he asked to Calum in confusion. 

" Are we already there ?" 

Calum got up on his elbows and checked through windows. 

" No, we're not. There are no buildings but jungle. "

" Then why did they stop ? " Louis asked. 

" You stay, let me go and check, yeah.." Calum said and got out of the bunk and Louis nodded. 

Louis was trying to sleep when he heard some voices and then a loud crash. He shuffled out of the bunk immediately. He noticed that no one was in the bus except for him, so he rushed out of the bus with fast steps. When comes out of the bus, everyone was  gathered around something. When he tiptoed to see what it was, he saw a car ; upside down. He walked forward and asked to the first person was standing next to him ; Michael. 

" What happened ? " 

" Accident. The car was tripped on the side of the road and the doors were jammed, so they broke the window glass to get the driver out." Michael explained looking at him. 

" Oh." 

Louis said and again turned his gaze to there. But when he meets his eyes with Preston, Louis noticed the panic in his eyes. He frowned at his behaviour, why was Preston panicking, they didn't hit the car. He starts walking towards him and Preston's panic grew even more as he looked from Louis to someone who he could assume was Zayn and then back to Louis. When the person turned to look at Louis, it was definitely Zayn, but he himself got panic after seeing Louis. 

" Louis, what are you doing here ? Go inside and take some rest, we'll handle it here. " Zayn said rushing up to him and tried to block his view. But Louis tried to look behind him as his heart start beating fast. 

" Who's the driver, Z ?" He asked not moving a bit. 

" N-no one, you just go inside." Zayn said and tried to push him back. Louis now looked at him in suspicion, frowning his eyebrows more. 

" Z, who's the driver ? " he asked out loud in anger catching everyone's attention as his heart started to beat faster than ever. 

Niall's eyes widened when he noticed Louis' presence and rushed to him. 

" Louis, what are you doing here, go inside and get some sleep. You weren't feeling well before." Niall looked at Zayn in shock and somewhat fear. 

But before Louis could reply to Niall, he heard HIM and his eyes widened in shock. 

"Loueh....." a low croaked voice said from a bit far, a voice that Louis can recognize in a beat of heart.

Louis' eyes widened in fear and he shoved both Niall and Zayn out of his way, before making his way pushing through everyone to where the car was. His feet stopped abruptly at the scene in front of him. There was laying on ground with head in Paul's lap, Harry. Ashton and Liam were kneeling beside them. It felt like his soul left his body and his heart stopped beating. He walked slowly to them, his body shaking, tears already falling from his eyes. 

Even in the car's headlights, the gushing blood glinted red over Harry's face. Paul's hand that pressing hard against the side of Harry's head pointing out that the red liquid smeared on Harry's face was not only by the cuts on his face, but it was also gushing from his head. 

Watching Harry laying there in that condition , Louis' eyes growing steadily more dull, he felt as if his own guts were torn. His skin became pale, and body started to feel numb. His legs gave up on him and he collapsed on his knees, next to Paul. His hands shaking as he advanced them to hold Harry's face. Up until now everything around them went silent, only Preston's voice could be heard a far away as he was calling for an ambulance. 

" Harry. "

Louis breathes out, his lips trembling and eyes not blinking for a second with hot tears spilling continously from them. Harry's eye lids moving for a second before he slowly opens them. Green meets blue. A small twitch of smile appeared on Harry's lips when he recognized Louis' face. But before he could say anything, a painful glint appeared in those emerald ones and his eyes closed again as well as his head tilted to the side. 

******************************

"  When you feel your love's been taken  
When you know there's something missing  
In the dark, we're barely hangin' on  
Then you rest your head upon my chest  
And you feel like there ain't nothing left  
I'm afraid that what we had is gone

Then I think of the start  
And it echoes a spark  
And I remember the magic electricity  
Then I look in my heart  
There's a light in the dark  
Still a flicker of hope that you first gave to me  
That I wanna keep  
Please don't leave  
Please don't leave"

Flicker by Niall Horan


End file.
